Rakesh Khurana's Weblog

Rakesh Khurana: From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession
In this book, I examine the institutional development of business education in the United States. I will be interested in your reactions.

Shashi Tharoor: Nehru: A Biography
As a young Indian child growing up in America, I heard stories about India's independence movement from my parents. I was told about Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. I had trouble believing that a single individual could have so much impact on the world. After reading, Shashi Tharoor's book, I've changed my mind. Tharoor's analysis of the intertwining between an individual's biography and the birth of a nation is masterful. The book stays close to its subject, Nehru, but then ventures to link his biography to many of the Indian institutions we now take for granted, including: secularism, democracy, non-alignment, and the country's prowess in science and math. This is a highly readable book and I strongly recommend it to any reader interested in learning about India, its culture, and its first leader.

Hernando De Soto: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
This is a fantastic book. Based on extensive field work, de Soto describes why capitalism fails to take hold in so many countries. His focus is on the institution of property rights. Sociologists should read this book carefully. In my view, it belongs alongside Smith, Keynes, Ricardo, and Marshall.

Mary Douglas: How Institutions Think
This book will re-wire your mind. If you ever believed that what we take for reality is mostly a projected societal consensus rather than objective fact, read this book. In addition to being a first-class theorist who can identify critical mechanisms for the social construction of reality, she is fantastic writer. I couldn't sleep for days after reading this book.

Michel Houellebecq: The Elementary Particles
After reading Houellebecq's Platform: A Novel, I decided to read his earlier novel. I'll post a review when I'm done.

Rakesh Khurana: Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs
I wrote this book. If you buy it, let me know what you think.