Beauty Queens, Children and the Death of Sex

By Richard Crasta

In this revised, first e-book edition of his controversial collection of personal and political essays, humor, and satire, the author of the celebrated novel "The Revised Kama Sutra" comments on a range of subjects, from India's sexual confusion to the colonization of the Indian mind. Arguing for true freedom for Indians and writers of Indian origin, he also discusses identity & nationalism.
The book's title is partly derived from two essays about Indian beauty queens and Indian beauty pageants, and partly from an essay in which the author describes how the arrival of children briefly impacted his own marital sex life.
This wide-ranging essay collection also examines such subjects American politics, men and women, the impact of Western feminism on Third World countries, and the effect of colonialism on the Indian mind. Published in hardcover by HarperCollins India, it was the author's second published book, and followed his widely published novel The Revised Kama Sutra, whose irreverence, idealism, no-sacred-cows humor, wordplay, and absurdity are also in evidence in this book.
This e-book edition contains new and previous unpublished essays.

Extracts from a few reviews:
--"His subjects inspire the sparkling best in him and his fine prose is as sparkling as ever with wit, racy yet refined."--Indian Express
--"Pungent, witty and incisive . . . leaves the reader surprised, provoked and sometimes outraged. Guaranteed to make a good read."-Press Trust of India.
--"After his best-selling The Revised Kama Sutra, Richard Crasta is back with another enjoyable book. Flippant and full of satire . . . full of subtle humor, the book takes a lighter look at contemporary India . . . telling it like it is--no holds barred. Not your average humour but a classy, welcome change. Get it."--Femina
--"Biting, cynical . . . zany sense of humour."-India Today

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Crasta
• Release date: Mar 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311758002

Richard Crasta

Richard Crasta is the India-born, long-time New York-resident author of "The Revised Kama Sutra: A Novel" and 12 other books, with at least 12 more conceived or in progress. "The Revised Kama Sutra," a novel about a young man growing up and making sense of the world and of sex, was described by Kurt Vonnegut as "very funny," and has been published in ten countries and in seven languages.Richard's books include fiction, nonfiction, essays, autobiography, humor, and satire with a political edge: anti-censorship, non-pc, pro-laughter, pro-food, pro-beer, and against fanaticism of any kind. His books have been described as "going where no Indian writer has gone before," and attempt to present an unedited, uncensored voice (James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, and Philip Roth are among the novelists who have inspired him.).Richard was born and grew up in India, joined the Indian Administrative Service, then moved to America to become a writer, and has traveled widely. Though technically still a New York resident, he spends most of his time in Asia working on his books in progress and part-time as a freelance book editor.