An exploration of the many identities of Delhi, loosely structured around a year that Dalrymple and his wife spent in the city in his 20s. I read this book at the recommendation of an Indian friend of mine to remedy my own ignorance of Indian history.

Perhaps due to my very low starting base, I found the whole book rather informative. Dalrymple writes from a British/Scottish perspective, which I imagine may be irritating to people who know Delhi from another point-of-view, but as I am somewhat familiar with the British mindset, I found his explorations a rather amenable starting point. I did not get the sense that I was getting real understanding of the phenomena and events described in the book, but I did get good storytelling which interested me in the events and the stories he did describe.