cover image India: In Word & Image

India: In Word & Image

, , intro. by Bharati Mukherjee. . Welcome, $60 (272pp) ISBN 978-1-59962-049-7

Take a trip to New Delhi or New Jersey—or even back in time—with these lavish photography books.

India: In Word & Image Eric Meola , intro. by Bharati Mukherjee. Welcome (Random, dist.), $60 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59962-049-7

Although photographer Meola's claim that he is “drawn to India because the people are blessed with childhood's sense of wonder” seems slightly patronizing, his photographs are an affectionate tribute to the subcontinent's diversity and history. Meola has a fine eye for detail and devotes equal attention to the grand and the humble, from spectacular Buddhist mandalas and Rajasthan's sprawling forts to rose-ringed parakeets nesting in trees or henna on a woman's hands. Suffused with light and color, his images sidestep cliché to achieve an intimacy and spontaneity that readers will relish. Excerpts from such writers as Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie and V.S. Naipaul round out this breathtaking book. (Nov.)