Book Reviews function, stating that the crisis of the Congress, however, is too deeply rooted in its structure and composition to be blamed upon any single individual (p. 299). And again: But it would be facile to attribute this decline [of Indian democracy] to the machinations of any individual, however powerful (p. 300). As a way out of this predicament, Masani finally sees India as either moving toward a military-supported authoritarian pattern after Nkrumah and Su- karno, or more likely-and for Masani preferably-toward Indira leading a breakaway progressive segment out of the Congress party and into a joint front with the leftist forces in the country. In dis- cussing the latter possibility-which has been, of course, for years the dream of the Communist Party of India-Masani underestimates the hold of the Congress mystique and overestimates the structural sup- port base for such an alliance. He also succumbs to some typical pandering to Western prejudice by his frequent references to Lutyen's Delhi, gadi and durbar. At times he also adopts a simplistic leftist formula, as in the case of the de-nationalization of the wholesale wheat trade. But all in all this excellent study deserves to be read by all those concerned with South Asia and to be in any library of any significance. McGill University BALDEV RAJ NAYAR By Manisha Roy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1975. 205 pp. $9.95. BENGALI WOMEN. THIS IS an extremely interesting book, conveying a vivid im- pression of the life of upper-class Bengali women. The Bengali author has interviewed acquaintances, women of different ages, concerning their socialization and particularly their expectations of marriage. Arguing that she was to a large extent a detached outside observer, since she grew up outside of Bengal, Dr. Roy uses concepts from anthropology and psychology to construct an analytical model; but the book is most successful at the personal level. Her thesis is that the psychological needs and expectations of a Bengali woman are frustrated when she marries and becomes part of her husband's joint family. She sees several compensatory relation- ships for the disappointed wife, ranging from those with her hus- band's younger brother and her own children to one with a guru in later years. One might attribute this expectation of conjugal love to Western influences, but Dr. Roy grounds it in traditional Sanskrit and Bengali literature. Her examples do show that Bengali women are socialized to hope for love in marriage, and also to expect disappoint- ment in that hope. Perhaps the relationships here termed com- pensatory might better be termed alternatives. In any case, her