• LAND REFORMS IN LEFT REGIME: A PROBE INTO WEST BENGAL'S SOCIO-ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE, 1977-2011 (Allied, Rs 195) by Manas Bakshi is a well-researched volume. The book - as the title suggests - attempts to broadly analyse the evolution of the erstwhile Left Front government's policy pertaining to the peasantry. Quite naturally, Operation Barga, which has often been feted as the most successful land reform policy of the Left administration, features prominently in the work. The author has also written extensively about the panchayat system in Bengal, and the Nandigram and Singur movements that hastened the downfall of the Left. To his credit, Bakshi has conducted his research objectively, without being influenced by the multitude of propaganda on the subject. It is difficult to accuse the writer of bias. However, there is one complaint about the book. The publishers could have chosen a more imaginative cover.
• YOU CANNOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS AND OTHER STORIES... (Niyogi, Rs 350) by Deepa Agarwal primarily focuses on problems faced by Indian women. However, there are strong sub-themes in many of the stories. For instance, "Cradle Song" highlights the societal preference for the male child. But the story is also equally about communal harmony. This ensures that the pieces do not seem repetitive.
Further, Agarwal's story-telling skills are impressive - even her short stories have an unhurried pace about them. The collection will not only entertain the readers but also make them aware of the subtle acts of discrimination that women have to put up with.
• FUSION: HOW INTEGRATING BRAND AND CULTURE POWERS THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMPANIES (Nicholas Brealey, Rs 499) by Denise Lee Yohn could turn out to be immensely helpful for budding entrepreneurs. According to the author, who has decades of experience in guiding top international companies through brand-building exercises, one of the cardinal mistakes that any organization can make is to have a dissonance between its internal culture and brand identity. Yohn emphasizes that in a world where more and more companies are opting for "increasingly diverse, divided, and distributed work environments", having a set of core values has become all too important. It separates the leading companies from the pack.
