Tag Archives: politics

In My Hands Today…

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Empireworld: How British Imperialism Has Shaped the Globe – Sathnam Sanghera

2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies. The empire’s influence upon the quarter of the planet it occupied, and its gravitational influence upon the world outside it, has been from the spread of Christianity by missionaries to nearly 1 in 3 driving on the left side of the road, and even shaping the origins of international law. Yet Britain’s idea of its imperial history and the world’s experience of it are two very different things. ­­

In Empireworld, award-winning author and journalist, Sathnam Sanghera extends his examination of British imperial legacies beyond Britain. Travelling the globe to trace its international legacies – from Barbados and Mauritius to India and Nigeria and beyond – Sanghera demonstrates just how deeply British imperialism is baked into our world.

And why it’s time Britain was finally honest with itself about empire.

In My Hands Today…

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The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs – Marc David Baer

The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. 

Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.

The Ottomans pioneered religious toleration even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples. But in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the empire’s demise after the First World War. 

The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty’s full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world.

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The New World: 21st-Century Global Order and India – Ram Madhav

Are there enduring patterns in history that can shed light on today’s shifting power dynamics and the struggle for a new international order? What lessons does the past offer for the present—and the future?

As the old world order fades and a new one slowly emerges, humanity stands at a pivotal crossroads. This period of transition presents a rare opportunity for rising nations like India to play a decisive role in shaping what comes next.

In The New 21st-Century Global Order and India, Ram Madhav offers a sweeping and influential exploration of the rise and fall of great powers and the international orders they create. Tracing the story of the liberal world order established by the West about seventy years ago, he examines the possible form of the emerging new order. He adopts an interdisciplinary approach as he delves into the most urgent concerns facing our global the rise of China and its challenge to the United States, the decline of global multilateralism and the emergence of multipolarity, the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies, and the challenges posed by demographics and climate change, among others. He also envisions India’s emerging role in the evolving balance of power within the global system.

As always, Madhav presents his ideas with vivid clarity and accessibility, guided by unwavering principle and sharp insight. Free of heavy-handed jargon, he offers a clear perspective on modern civilization and where we are headed.

The New 21st-Century Global Order and India is a comprehensive resource for anyone seeking to understand the more representative global order that is less asymmetric and more diverse.

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Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age – Stephen R. Platt

As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War.

When Britain launched its first war on China in 1839, pushed into hostilities by profiteering drug merchants and free-trade interests, it sealed the fate of what had long been seen as the most prosperous and powerful empire in Asia, if not the world. But internal problems of corruption, popular unrest, and dwindling finances had weakened China far more than was commonly understood, and the war would help set in motion the eventual fall of the Qing dynasty–which, in turn, would lead to the rise of nationalism and communism in the twentieth century. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it.

In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China–traveling mostly in secret beyond Canton, the single port where they were allowed–even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable–and mostly peaceful–meeting of civilizations at Canton over the long term that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American individuals, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

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Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth About India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster – J.P. Dalvi

Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth About India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster is Brigadier J. P. Dalvi’s retelling of the Sino-Indian war that took place in 1962 – a war that India lost. Dalvi fought the war as the Commander of the 7th Infantry Brigade in NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency).

His account of the war is graphic and telling. He was captured by the Chinese forces and held for seven months. As a participant of the war, he was privy to all that went on at the battlefield as well as behind the scenes. Based on his firsthand experiences, he recounts the events that occurred between September 8, 1962 and October 20, 1962.

As early as 1951, China silently and steadily began to work its way onto Indian soil. Even in the face of indisputable evidence, India insisted on maintaining cordial relations with the Chinese. China seemed only too happy to play along.

Dalvi narrates the manner in which India’s own political leadership traitorously worked against its cause. In no uncertain terms, he holds three men responsible for India’s defeat – Jawaharlal Nehru, Krishna Menon, and General Brij Mohan Kaul.

Issuing orders from Delhi, they seemed to be clueless about the situation on the battlefield. Undoubtedly, when they were rushed into battle, the Indian soldiers – underfed, ill-equipped, and unprepared as they were – never stood a chance against the powerful Chinese army. Regardless of that, the soldiers fought bravely and laid down their lives for their homeland.

Dalvi claims that the apathy and the sheer ineptitude of those at the helm of India’s political affairs sacrificed hundreds of valuable lives. Brigadier Dalvi’s detailed narrative of the massacre of the Indian soldiers, a horror that he witnessed firsthand, is heart-rending.

The book was published in 1969. Among all the books based on the subject of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, this book is considered to be one the most striking and authentic versions. Due to its sensitive subject matter and its portrayal of India’s leaders in a harshly negative light, the book was banned by the Indian government upon its release.