Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947, by Rudra Chaudhuri, Hurst, RRP£30/$29.95
American relations with New Delhi were plunged into crisis in December by the arrest of an Indian consular official in New York for alleged visa fraud. Devyani Khobragade was accused of lying to US officials about the salary of an Indian maid who accompanied her on her posting.
The diplomat’s arrest caused fury among Indian elites, particularly after it emerged that she was subjected to a humiliating strip-search during her brief custody. As it sought to contain the damage, the US appeared caught off guard by the ferocity of India’s reaction. But it should not have been.