The Blood Telegram, India’s Secret War with Pakistan (Book review)

The Blood Telegram, India’s Secret War with Pakistan (Book review)

The Blood Telegram by Gary J. Bass is insightful, reflective and thoroughly well researched; the book offers a new perspective on the frequently chronicled 1971 India-Pakistan War, which led to the creation of Bangladesh. Outlining the turn of events in the leadup to the 14-day War in 1971, Bass also offers a scathing criticism of [...]

Book Review- Creating a New Medina by Venkat Dhulipala

Book Review- Creating a New Medina by Venkat Dhulipala

Creating a New Medina authored by Venkat Dhulipala is an insightful and deftly crafted book, that provides a fresh perspective to long-established scholarship on the creation of Pakistan and its conceptions. Past historical accounts on its origins have been founded on the fundamental premise that Pakistan was a “bargaining counter”, an idea that was insufficiently [...]

An analysis of “Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History” by Ishtiaq Ahmed

An analysis of “Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History” by Ishtiaq Ahmed

Through the book, Ahmed puts forward arguments outlining the primary causes attributed to Jinnah's success and recognition as a leader in the buildup to the partition. One of the primary arguments that Ahmed focuses extensively on is the idea that the initial lack of success of the Quit India Movement was a pivotal step in [...]

Book review: The Sole Spokesman by Ayesha Jalal

Book review: The Sole Spokesman by Ayesha Jalal

The Sole Spokesman by Ayesha Jalal is a book takes a strong stand against the common teleological assumption that “the end result of the … partition was the ultimate goal of Muslim politics” and Jinnah in the years leading up to 1947. Through the book, Jalal’s arguments aim to explain Jinnah’s nuanced motives at the [...]