Glorious Heights and Terrifying Depths

Jairam Ramesh is well regarded for his wide-ranging intellect, keen observational abilities, and no-nonsense, straight-talking style. All of these skills are on vivid display in the new ­biography of modern India’s mysterious Machiavelli, V K Krishna Menon.

Readers are likely to come to this book with some strongly held pre-formed views on its well-known diplomatic subject of study. Menon is today both heralded and hated for his fiery rhetoric and long-winded speeches, usually directed against the West; for his shadowy proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru; and for his bungling of India’s defence during the Sino–Indian war of 1962. It is to Ramesh’s considerable credit that he is able in just a few chapters to pry Menon free from such preconceived feelings and present a much more balanced picture.