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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
dark
informative
medium-paced
The rare case of a U.S. diplomat accidentally growing a conscience—and attempting a flicker of dissent.
If you get past the author's unearned smarminess and unsolicited personal opinion, you’ll find a surprisingly intimate (at least from the American and Indian side) recounting of the events that led up to—and took place during—a largely unacknowledged genocide. Unacknowledged because, in the eyes of those who matter (Westerners), it was carried out by allies (an anti-communist Pakistani military) against people who don’t count (Bengalis), whose only support came from an at-the-time unfriendly government (India).
There are clear parallels today in how Western pretensions to moral superiority and global benevolence—the most virtuous form being humanitarian intervention to stop genocidal violence—are exposed as just that: pretensions. Because they don’t extend to people whose lives don’t count. Like Bengalis. Like Palestinians.
That said, the book definitely carries a “Nixon and Kissinger were the only thing ever wrong with American foreign policy” kind of perspective.
If you get past the author's unearned smarminess and unsolicited personal opinion, you’ll find a surprisingly intimate (at least from the American and Indian side) recounting of the events that led up to—and took place during—a largely unacknowledged genocide. Unacknowledged because, in the eyes of those who matter (Westerners), it was carried out by allies (an anti-communist Pakistani military) against people who don’t count (Bengalis), whose only support came from an at-the-time unfriendly government (India).
There are clear parallels today in how Western pretensions to moral superiority and global benevolence—the most virtuous form being humanitarian intervention to stop genocidal violence—are exposed as just that: pretensions. Because they don’t extend to people whose lives don’t count. Like Bengalis. Like Palestinians.
That said, the book definitely carries a “Nixon and Kissinger were the only thing ever wrong with American foreign policy” kind of perspective.
challenging
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
This is a difficult read given the atrocities it covers but it’s an excellent book.
A very clear and well written account of a bit of history that I was barely aware of: the the incidents that led to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh. Before reading the book I only knew the bare outlines of the story (that a war between India and Pakistan led to "East Pakistan" gaining independence and becoming Bangladesh). I did not know the depths of American involvement in the conflict, the connection of that conflict to Nixon's overtures to China, or the genocide. It's a really interesting book. Go read it! And wow, not to spoil anything but that Nixon guy and his sidekick Kissinger were real assholes.
As a history major in college, and someone who reads history books fairly regularly, I'm ashamed that I knew nothing about this. Nixon and Kissinger are racist, vile, and positively evil human beings.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
An absolutely necessary and commendable work of investigative journalism on a forgotten scandal, an event that should serve as a stain upon Nixon and Kissinger’s legacies but is sadly all but erased by all the other stains to their legacies (ie Nixon’s scandals and Kissinger’s other war crimes). However, and this is just a personal gripe as a filthy leftist, I found it a bit frustrating that Bass didn’t do more to connect this tragedy to the overarching theme of anticommunist repression that underlies most US foreign policy in the Cold War era. Obviously it was mentioned many times, but it was treated more as a battle between two military powers — the US and the USSR — rather than a battle between ideologies. I don’t mean to diminish the important work Bass did just because he doesn’t share my politics (which are on the more extreme end, comparatively), but I think it is a historiographical disservice to not state in clear, unflinching terms that the US openly and eagerly backed (even directly instated) many, many tyrants in the global South in the name of capitalism.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced