Spanish silver mining required great armies of slaves and workers – not only to work the mines, also to supply food and industrial inputs. In the sixteenth century, Potosí, at an altitude of 4000 metres, had a population of 160,000, exceeding that of London. #afternations

I notice much greater shock in France than other countries I've lived when someone proposes a tree be cut down. Does it have to do with the fact that the French word for "to fell" a tree is "abattre"? "To slaughter." As in: "abattoir".

Reading in New Haven in 2025 cut with images of Delhi streets shot by thomas ellis in 2014.

From my upcoming book “Peasants” Persian Sugar Chronicles: in 510 BCE, Persian chroniclers marked a sweet milestone. Emperor Darius brought sugarcane from the Indus Valley to the Achaemenid Empire. Later, during the Sasanian period, knowledge of how to process the cane into sugar

2025. Centenary of the two #novels which most set my youthful head alight. "Mrs Dalloway" by #VirginiaWoolf , "The Trial" by #FranzKafka. (Later, I read "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie and realised the novel could still speak. And resolved to write one.)

In my life in general, I've been mostly interested in modern art and Western Art. But as I get older, I'm more interested in works that speak to me across a much longer period of time." Rana Dasgupta on how art can reflect society’s desires.

6 Books That Capture the Soul of Delhi Better Than Any History Textbook Ever Could timesnownews.com/photos/lifesty…

The nation-state system fixes people in place. It assumes that humanity is a sedentary species. It is not prepared for humanity that is, to a significant degree, mobile. youtu.be/Buj5EWi8H3Q?si… #afternations

These days, The Iliad sounds like current affairs: A leader is more powerful and stronger when he is angry with a lesser man. He may consume his anger for that day but he will keep the grudge inside his belly until at last he acts on it. #Homer

After 2.5 years of research & writing, “Harvest”, my first non-fiction podcast on the crisis of the global countryside – produced by Hollywood’s Plan B and Amazon Audible – launches Sept 18 in the UK & US (also AU, CA, DE, FR & JP). Co-written with Rana Dasgupta

Proofs in the house. #afternations HarperCollinsUK

Explore the future of global politics on Thursday, September 18 at 1:30pm with 2025 Windham-Campbell Prize recipient Rana Dasgupta as he discusses his highly anticipated forthcoming book, After Nations. This groundbreaking work delves into the widespread crisis afflicting the

Episode 7 of the new #WindhamCampbellPrizes x Literary Hub Podcast series is out now! Speaking with Director of the Windham-Campbell Prizes Michael Kelleher (@imichaelkelleher), Rana Dasgupta considers Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard, which captures a

My conversation with Michael Kelleher, director of Windham-Campbell Prizes Prizes, about "Il Gattopardo" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, whose melancholy account of the nation-state era was influenced by his experience of Italian fascism and two world wars. lithub.com/rana-dasgupta-…

"The nation-state has lost the technological supremacy on which its monopoly rested." My new piece for The Yale Review outlines implications of #AfterNations for #Trump #America . yalereview.org/article/dasgup…