Pankaj Mishra

Turning the Mirror: A View From the East is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and award-winning writer Pankaj Mishra. The conversation provides behind-the-scenes insights into several of Pankaj’s books, including From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia and An End To Suffering: The Buddha In The World, and his motivations to write them.

This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, The Weight of History, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:

  1. A Different Perspective – Unknown intellectuals and overlooked worldviews
  2. Demanding a Response – Reacting to an existential challenge
  3. Inseparable Factors? – Capitalism, imperialism and modernity
  4. East and West – A meaningful distinction?
  5. Discovering Buddhism – Transcending false stereotypes
  6. Personal Examinations – Growing up Western in the East
  7. At an Impasse – The end of an experiment
  8. Learning From the Past – The benefits of increased historical understanding



Available in electronic format on all major booksellers, including:





Turning the Mirror: A View From the East Also is also part of the five-part Ideas Roadshow Collection, Conversations About The History of Ideas, which is available in hardcover, paperback and electronic format.

A one-hour video of this conversation is available on VOD, HERE. Pankaj Mishra is is also featured in 7 Ideas Roadshow documentary-style films together with several other renowned researchers. Available on Ideas Roadshow digital resources platforms, Kanopy and Boclips.