Indian Genius: the Meteoric Rise of Indians in America

It is virtually impossible to turn on CNN, read the Wall Street Journal, go to a hospital, attend a university, or browse a bookstore without encountering a sea of Indian names and faces. In her new book, INDIAN GENIUS: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America (Harper360; February 28, 2025), author and journalist Meenakshi Ahamed provides fascinating portraits of the Indian Americans at the forefront of the wave of Indian success stories.Ahamed's brilliant portraits of such well-known figures as Satya Nadella, Vinod Khosla, Shantanu Narayen, Chandrika Tandon, Nikesh Arora, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Deepak Chopra, Nikki Haley, and Fareed Zakaria populate the pages of her book. Based on a series of interviews and full of fresh and surprising stories, INDIAN GENIUS reveals the private strengths that made possible each individual's public achievements. What accounts for Indian Americans' remarkable ability to break into mainstream American culture and their meteoric rise within its ranks? Other immigrant groups have found success in the U.S., but none have rocketed so far and so fast, reaching heights in a single generation that have taken other groups the better part of a century to achieve. In INDIAN GENIUS, Ahamed focuses on three areas where Indian Americans have had a singular impact: tech, medicine and public policy. The per capita income of Indian Americans far exceeds that of any ethnic group. According to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center, the median annual household income for Indian Americans is $100,000 higher than other Asian Americans ($75,000) and the general population ($53,600). Indians were also the most highly educated; 72 percent are college graduates, compared to 51 percent of other Asians and 30 percent of the rest of the population.It is essential reading for anyone interested in the path to success in America.