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Suchitra Vijayan
A Booklist "Top 10 History Book of 2022" The first true people's history of modern India, told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey along its many contested borders Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the world's largest democracy and second most populous country. It is also the site of the world's biggest crisis of statelessness, as it strips citizenship from hundreds of thousands of its people--especially those living in disputed border regions.Suchitra Vijayan traveled India's vast land border to explore how these populations live, and document how even places just few miles apart can feel like entirely different countries. In this stunning work of narrative reportage--featuring over 40 original photographs--we hear from those whose stories are never told: from children playing a cricket match in no-man's-land, to an elderly man living in complete darkness after sealing off his home from the floodlit border; from a woman who fought to keep a military bunker off of her land, to those living abroad who can no longer find their family history in India.With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of colonialism, state violence, and government corruption. The result is a gripping, urgent dispatch from a modern India in crisis, and the full and vivid portrait of the country we've long been missing.
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Author
Suchitra Vijayan
Pages
336
Publisher
Melville House
Published Date
2021-05-25
ISBN
1612198589 9781612198583
Community ReviewsSee all
"I thought that this book was beautifully written. Critics say that the author is biased against India but fail to understand that she is telling stories of the people the have been wronged and erased by India and Britain for years. Yes, traveling and interviewing people for 7 years will persuade you to their side, but most of us have never heard the side she is telling. Why does she need to reiterate that there were both bad and good Indian soldiers when history isn’t really claiming otherwise?
The book takes you along the borders of India and tells the stories of those affected by the Partition and other violent land disputes. Indigenous peoples, displaced Muslim communities, and people caught in the crossfire of other nations’ wars are the heartbreaking focus of this book. Yes, the author speaks strongly in their favor and wishes the world could exist peacefully without borders, but she doesn’t pretend that eliminating borders is the solution to all of this and she doesn’t let her biases get in the way of telling the stories she set out to tell. She also includes narratives from Indian soldiers, both current and former.
Overall, it was a fantastic beginning to learning about the history of India. Simple enough for most people to understand and engaging enough for history lovers to enjoy. 7.5/10"
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