Why read 1971?

Book cover of 1971: A People's History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India

Book description

The year 1971 exists everywhere in Bangladesh-on its roads, in sculptures, in its museums and oral history projects, in its curriculum, in people's homes and their stories, and in political discourse. It marks the birth of the nation, its liberation. More than 1000 miles away, in Pakistan too, 1971 marks…

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Asian history

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Why read it?

1 author picked 1971 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sayeed Ferdous

Author

This book is probably among the first ones written by a Pakistani author on the history of the 1971 war, aka Liberation War of Bangladesh, which thrilled me as a reader. It challenges not only the statist-nationalist accounts of Pakistan but those from India and Bangladesh as well.

Anam, the author, accomplished commendable work by talking to people across the cartographies and bringing up diverse and contradictory perspectives about the pretexts and events of 1971-related politics. While after all these years, both the state and society of Pakistan and Bangladesh remained taboo to each other, such a venture appears to…

From Sayeed's list on The best books on South Asian history and culture that draw upon the ordinary lives and unheard perspectives.