A brilliantly illuminating portrait of Bombay and its people–a book as vast, diverse, and rich in experience, incident, and sensation as the city itself–from an award-winning Indian-American fiction writer and journalist.A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us a true insider’s view of this stunning city, bringing to his account a rare level of insight, detail, and intimacy. He approaches the city from unexpected angles–taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs who wrest control of the city’s byzantine political and commercial systems . . . following the life of a bar dancer who chose the only life available to her after a childhood of poverty and abuse . . . opening the doors onto the fantastic, hierarchical inner sanctums of Bollywood . . . delving into the stories of the countless people who come from the villages in search of a better life and end up living on the sidewalks–the essential saga of a great city endlessly played out.Through it all–as each individual story unfolds–we hear Mehta’s own story: of the mixture of love, frustration, fascination, and intense identification he feels for and with Bombay, as he tries to find home again after twenty-one years abroad. And he makes clear that Bombay–the world’s largest city–is a harbinger of the vast megalopolises that will redefine the very idea of “the city” in the near future.Candid, impassioned, funny, and heartrending, Maximum City is a revelation of an ancient and ever-changing world.

一本关于孟买及其人民的精彩的启蒙画册--这本书就像这个城市本身一样广阔、多样，并具有丰富的经验、事件和感觉--出自一位获奖的印度裔美国小说家和记者之手。作为孟买人，苏克图-梅塔为我们提供了这个迷人城市的真正内幕，使他的叙述具有罕见的洞察力、细节和亲密感。他从出乎意料的角度接近这个城市--带我们进入穆斯林和印度教敌对帮派的犯罪黑社会，他们争夺对这个城市复杂的政治和商业系统的控制权......跟踪一个酒吧舞女的生活，她在经历了贫穷和虐待的童年后选择了唯一的生活......打开宝莱坞梦幻般的、等级森严的内部大厅的大门...... ......深入了解无数人的故事，他们从乡村来到这里寻找更好的生活，最终生活在人行道上--一个伟大城市的基本传奇在无休止地上演。通过这一切--随着每个人故事的展开--我们听到了梅塔自己的故事：爱、挫折、迷恋和对孟买的强烈认同的混合，他在国外21年后试图重新找到家园。他清楚地表明，孟买--世界上最大的城市--是巨大的大都市的预兆，在不久的将来，这些大都市将重新定义 "城市 "的概念。