Capital The Eruption of Delhi
- 12 Feb 2026
- 9781837263592
- £12.99
- 480 pp
- 135×204mm
- 6 Mar 2014
- 9780857868916
- £10.39
- 480 pp
In a few words
Capital is Rana Dasgupta’s Orwell Prize-shortlisted non-fiction debut: an unsparing, lyrical portrait of class and wealth disparity in Delhi
In a few words
Capital is Rana Dasgupta’s Orwell Prize-shortlisted non-fiction debut: an unsparing, lyrical portrait of class and wealth disparity in Delhi
Important . . . His lyrical encounters with a wide range of modern Delhiites reveal a novelist's ear and are beautifully sketched
A terrific portrait of Delhi right now and hits a lot of nails on the head
Salman Rushdie
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
VogueMore about
the book
WINNER OF THE WINDHAM CAMPBELL PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE PRIX ÉMILE GUIMET DE LITTÉRATURE 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 ÉTRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the red-hot city which erupted from Delhi’s economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s. Slums were bulldozed, luxury shopping malls erected in their place. The outer transformation, stern and abrupt, reached beyond mortar and into minds. Hundreds of thousands streamed in from rural hinterlands, and the city brimmed with possibility.
In this prescient account of the exultation 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 history, a warning and a looking glass. It is book for our times.
More about
the book
WINNER OF THE WINDHAM CAMPBELL PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE PRIX ÉMILE GUIMET DE LITTÉRATURE 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 ÉTRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the red-hot city which erupted from Delhi’s economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s. Slums were bulldozed, luxury shopping malls erected in their place. The outer transformation, stern and abrupt, reached beyond mortar and into minds. Hundreds of thousands streamed in from rural hinterlands, and the city brimmed with possibility.
In this prescient account of the exultation 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 history, a warning and a looking glass. It is book for our times.
Lyrical and haunting
Achingly beautiful . . . and cleverly tangential
Intense, lyrical, erudite and powerful
Dasgupta peels back the layers of denial with insight, humanity and beautiful writing. He exposes festering wounds buts succeeds in fascinating rather than repelling
Lyrical and haunting
Achingly beautiful . . . and cleverly tangential
Intense, lyrical, erudite and powerful
Important . . . His lyrical encounters with a wide range of modern Delhiites reveal a novelist's ear and are beautifully sketched
Rana Dasgupta
View profileRana Dasgupta is the author of the short story collection Tokyo Cancelled, 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 and the Ondaatje Prize in 2015, and won both the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award and the Émile Guimet Prize in 2017. He was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize in 2025.
Rana Dasgupta
View profileRana Dasgupta is the author of the short story collection Tokyo Cancelled, 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 and the Ondaatje Prize in 2015, and won both the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award and the Émile Guimet Prize in 2017. He was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize in 2025.
