Capital
A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi
Published on 12. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-1-83726-359-2 (ISBN)
Description
WINNER OF THE WINDHAM CAMPBELL PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE PRIX EMILE GUIMET DE LITTERATURE ASIATIQUE 2017
WINNER OF THE RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI AWARD 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRE ETRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the new version of Delhi which erupted out of its economic boom in the 1990s. An unsparing look at the causes and consequences of globalisation, Capital is at once a history, a warning and a looking glass.
Slums and markets bulldozed or burnt down. Luxury shopping malls and apartment blocks erected in their place. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people from the rural hinterland streamed in, looking for work. The transformation of the city was stern, abrupt and unequal. Delhi brimmed with ambition and rage.
In this prescient account of the mayhem and disparity that would emerge from India's globalisation, Rana Dasgupta shows us a city's rebirth, for better and worse, through the eyes of its people. Capital is a book for our times.
WINNER OF THE PRIX EMILE GUIMET DE LITTERATURE ASIATIQUE 2017
WINNER OF THE RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI AWARD 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRE ETRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the new version of Delhi which erupted out of its economic boom in the 1990s. An unsparing look at the causes and consequences of globalisation, Capital is at once a history, a warning and a looking glass.
Slums and markets bulldozed or burnt down. Luxury shopping malls and apartment blocks erected in their place. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people from the rural hinterland streamed in, looking for work. The transformation of the city was stern, abrupt and unequal. Delhi brimmed with ambition and rage.
In this prescient account of the mayhem and disparity that would emerge from India's globalisation, Rana Dasgupta shows us a city's rebirth, for better and worse, through the eyes of its people. Capital is a book for our times.
Reviews / Votes
Important . . . His lyrical encounters with a wide range of modern Delhiites reveal a novelist's ear and are beautifully sketched * * Telegraph * * A beautifully written portrait of a corrupt, violent and traumatised city growing so fast it is almost unrecognisable to its own inhabitants. An astonishing tour de force by a major writer at the peak of his powers -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE A terrific portrait of Delhi right now and hits a lot of nails on the head -- SALMAN RUSHDIE Lyrical and haunting * * International New York Times * * Achingly beautiful . . . and cleverly tangential * * Financial Times * * Intense, lyrical, erudite and powerful * * Observer * * Dasgupta peels back the layers of denial with insight, humanity and beautiful writing. He exposes festering wounds buts succeeds in fascinating rather than repelling * * The Times * * A remarkable and exhaustive account * * Independent * * Personal, original and vivid * * New Internationalist * * A remarkably elegant work whose rich style and sweep often brings to mind V S Naipaul's A Million Mutinies Now * * New Statesman * *More details
Series
Edition
Main - Canons
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Canongate Books
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
368 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83726-359-2 (9781837263592)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rana Dasgupta is the author of the short story collection, Tokyo Cancelled, which was shortlisted for the 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the novel Solo, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2010 for Best Book, and After Nations. Capital, his first work of non-fiction, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2015 and the Ondaatje Prize in 2015. He was awarded the Windham Campbell Prize in 2025.