The city of Chandigarh was erected from scratch in the Punjab after the independence of India. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited the Le Corbusier, the French modernist, to serve as the chief architect of the city that was meant to shine as a beacon of India's entrance to Western modernity. Prakash (architecture and urban planning, U. of Washington), a native of Chandigarh, explores the history and legacy of Le Corbusier's and Nehru's sometimes conflicting visions as they are evidenced in the central plan of the city and the buildings of the state capitol. Central to the narrative is the conflict over the "Open Hand" monument, conceived by Le Corbusier as a monument to Nehru's nonalignment ideology, but nixed by Nehru in deference to political considerations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)