A review of Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian's book 'A Sixth of Humanity' argues that while data-rich, the narrative oversimplifies India's economic history. The reviewer challenges the book's characterization of the 1950-80 period as uniformly poor, citing a growth cycle rather than steady decline. The book's central questions focus on why economic growth and structural transformations were tepid in the 'socialist' era and why, despite rapid growth in the 'neoliberal' one, structural transformation and job creation lagged.