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repositorei's review against another edition
4.5
what a brilliant narrative woven throughout a horrific story that so many are keen to overlook. one of the greatest inspirations to my own writing style
smummadi's review against another edition
5.0
Well conducted research using credible sources ( White House tapes, declassified archives etc) . A good example of investigative journalism. Kudos to the author for unearthing a relatively forgotten episode (outside S.Asia) of state sponsored genocide. The book makes a case for compelling reading. It is good to know that the 1971 Govt of India did not cave into the bullying tactics of USA and China . It went on with its stated objective of liberating Bangladesh from the clutches of brutal military adminstrators who were killing people based on their race, language and religion.
ben_r's review against another edition
4.0
Kissinger and Nixon ignoring the tragedy of the birth of Bangladesh. For political expediency.
taniatlaw's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
I was absolutely fascinated and riveted to learn about this piece of unknown / lesser-known history in the US and Southeast Asia. I definitely am under-educated about this period in SEA, and was aghast at the personalities and behaviours of Nixon and Kissinger during this time. That they decided to support an authoritarian dictatorship deeply responsible for genocide in order to achieve better relations with China astounds me!
While a very informative and interesting read, I found it a bit slow at times… I definitely found that the plot and details were starting to drag on by the latter half of the book.
While a very informative and interesting read, I found it a bit slow at times… I definitely found that the plot and details were starting to drag on by the latter half of the book.
hsnails's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I didn't know anything about Bangladesh's independence, and I knew embarrassingly little about Nixon, Kissinger before reading this book. Bass did a fantastic job getting me up to speed (plus some time spent with a map).
The book hits the ground running and doesn't stop until a little after half way, where it slows way down for bit. But the pace picks right back up for the last quarter.
Bass tells the history in a fascinating way. He did some serious homework; you don't go more than a few paragraphs without a direct quote from the people.
My only (very minor) gripes: I felt like the title was a bit of a misnomer, meant to catch your eye and get you to pick up the book.
Additionally, Bass gets a little repetitive, reminding you who is who constantly. This was definitely necessary at times, but I felt there were other times that I was trying to remember who was who and there wasn't a reminder.
Finally, I felt like there was a lot of backtracking, when it could've just been told chronologically. The first quarter felt like a constant pull through time from March through April and back over and over.
Overall, I give the book a solid 4/5. I learned a lot about a topic that I likely would've gone my whole life never knowing. It was well written and well paced. I couldn't help but draw parallels to today's political climate, and it was just further proof that history is cyclical.
The book hits the ground running and doesn't stop until a little after half way, where it slows way down for bit. But the pace picks right back up for the last quarter.
Bass tells the history in a fascinating way. He did some serious homework; you don't go more than a few paragraphs without a direct quote from the people.
My only (very minor) gripes: I felt like the title was a bit of a misnomer, meant to catch your eye and get you to pick up the book.
Additionally, Bass gets a little repetitive, reminding you who is who constantly. This was definitely necessary at times, but I felt there were other times that I was trying to remember who was who and there wasn't a reminder.
Finally, I felt like there was a lot of backtracking, when it could've just been told chronologically. The first quarter felt like a constant pull through time from March through April and back over and over.
Overall, I give the book a solid 4/5. I learned a lot about a topic that I likely would've gone my whole life never knowing. It was well written and well paced. I couldn't help but draw parallels to today's political climate, and it was just further proof that history is cyclical.
saazhar's review against another edition
4.0
A brilliant look at the independence of Bangladesh, and how the ignorance and naïveté of those who could have stopped the genocide just exacerbated it. A good view in to how the Cold War lost its impersonal politics and took on a bitter and angry relationship between nations.
sujuv's review against another edition
4.0
Great book. Well worth reading to learn more about American complicity in genocide in Bangladesh in the early 1970s. That said, although India comes off pretty well as do the brave American diplomats based in Dhaka at the time, it's a well balanced book with plenty of blame, analysis, and insight to go around. Even though I knew the general contours of that historical moment, I knew nothing about what was going on behind the scenes. Truly illuminating.
kwtingley's review against another edition
5.0
A powerful and heavily documented indictment of the White House's involvement in West Pakistan's brutal genocide against its own citizens in East Pakistan, which then became Bangladesh. Important addition to understanding Nixon, Kissinger and America's failure to act.
alok_pandey's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, Mr. Bass deserves a big bow simply for the effort he put in this book. Get this, almost 45% of the length of the ebook I read are just references!! Bass waded through innumerable books and journals to get his facts right and place them in context in addition to transcribing thousands of hours of White House official tapes and extracting relevant stuff out of it then. This book is no minor feat.
Now, about the book. Meticulously written by, it narrates the events during the 1971 crisis, that happened primarily between March and December, that led to Indo-Pak war and creation of an independent Bangladesh.
The book’s primary concern is the ogre forgotten and overlooked genocide perpetrated by the Pakistani state on (then) East Pakistani subjects, and that after denying them a justifiably and democratically won autonomy.
The second bigger concern is the role of American government in consistently propping up and supporting Pakistani generals to serve their own interests wrt China, cold-blooded cold war calculations and an unmissable hatred that reeks of shocking prejudice and almost verges on mind-numbing racism towards India and Indians, particularly coming from Nixon and Kissinger.
Reading through the transcripts, you often can’t believe that the conversation was done in the most powerful office of one the then superpowers of the world. Decisions, including those that decided the fate of other nations and communities, were made at whim and often by using twisted facts and ignoring protocols. A public office was used as private fiefdom and Congress was blindsided while blatantly violating the laws.
Henry Kissinger, is widely reviled today and going by his words in the cables, I can definitely see why. He has often been touted as one of the messiahs of realpolitik and to some extent it appeared so as well. But, in many instances, that is so not true and many of his viewpoints and decisions look plain stupid and illogical driven solely by a false sense of intellectual-superiority. There were times when even Nixon and his own staff started doubting his sanity.
The book doesn’t have that much detailed analysis on Indian thoughts and views during the period and the author provides the reason for that too as the lack of availability of exhaustive references and much of Indira-era document are still not declassified. That, if it were available, would have made the book next to perfect to understand the crisis in a comprehensive sense. Regardless, the book is still one of the best sources available on the subject and will be sourced by future works for a long time, in my opinion.
Now, about the book. Meticulously written by, it narrates the events during the 1971 crisis, that happened primarily between March and December, that led to Indo-Pak war and creation of an independent Bangladesh.
The book’s primary concern is the ogre forgotten and overlooked genocide perpetrated by the Pakistani state on (then) East Pakistani subjects, and that after denying them a justifiably and democratically won autonomy.
The second bigger concern is the role of American government in consistently propping up and supporting Pakistani generals to serve their own interests wrt China, cold-blooded cold war calculations and an unmissable hatred that reeks of shocking prejudice and almost verges on mind-numbing racism towards India and Indians, particularly coming from Nixon and Kissinger.
Reading through the transcripts, you often can’t believe that the conversation was done in the most powerful office of one the then superpowers of the world. Decisions, including those that decided the fate of other nations and communities, were made at whim and often by using twisted facts and ignoring protocols. A public office was used as private fiefdom and Congress was blindsided while blatantly violating the laws.
Henry Kissinger, is widely reviled today and going by his words in the cables, I can definitely see why. He has often been touted as one of the messiahs of realpolitik and to some extent it appeared so as well. But, in many instances, that is so not true and many of his viewpoints and decisions look plain stupid and illogical driven solely by a false sense of intellectual-superiority. There were times when even Nixon and his own staff started doubting his sanity.
The book doesn’t have that much detailed analysis on Indian thoughts and views during the period and the author provides the reason for that too as the lack of availability of exhaustive references and much of Indira-era document are still not declassified. That, if it were available, would have made the book next to perfect to understand the crisis in a comprehensive sense. Regardless, the book is still one of the best sources available on the subject and will be sourced by future works for a long time, in my opinion.