Overview

This ground-breaking book chronicles and analyzes the 1971 war in South Asia by reconstituting the memories of those on opposing sides of the conflict. 1971 was marked by a bitter civil war within Pakistan and war between India and Pakistan, backed respectively by the Soviet Union and the United States. It was fought over the territory of East Pakistan, which seceded to become Bangladesh. Through a detailed investigation of events on the ground, Sarmila Bose contextualises and humanizes the war while analysing what the events revealed about the nature of the conflict itself. The story of 1971 has so far been dominated by the narrative of the victorious side. All parties to the war are still largely imprisoned by wartime partisan mythologies. Bose reconstructs events using extensive interviews conducted in Bangladesh and Pakistan, published and unpublished reminiscences in Bengali and English of participants on all sides, official documents, foreign media reports and other sources. The chronicling of events through a multiplicity of memories reveals what had been previously unknown or poorly recorded. Moreover, 'contesting' memories reveal a reality diverging from the dominant narrative in crucial ways. It challenges assumptions about the nature of the conflict, and exposes the ways in which the 1971 conflict is still playing out in the region.

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9781849040495

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Reviews

'A truth about the Bangladesh war is that remarkably few scholars and historians have given it thorough, independent scrutiny. Bose's research has taken her from the archives to interviews with elderly peasants in Bangladesh and retired army officers in Pakistan. Her findings are significant.'-Ian Jack, The Guardian 'History emerges only slowly from the passion-filled context of contemporary events. Sarmila Bose's book sets Bangladesh's liberation struggle at the start of this long passage.' - Professor David Washbrook, Trinity College, Cambridge 'Finally we have a book that investigates the conflicts of 1971 using facts and testimonies from all sides. Some may find this search for the truth controversial, but the official histories, full of absurd exaggerations and one-sided claims, are the ones that truly demean the sacrifices of 1971... The painful task of recognizing historical evidence has surely begun.' - Mushtaq H. Khan, Professor of Economics, SOAS 'Powerful and poignant ... this is history as told by participants at the grass roots and it dispels many myths that have been fed by faulty memories of the so-called elites in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Dead Reckoning should help the people of both countries accept the facts of that tragic and bloody separation of 1971 and take responsibility for the war that stained the verdant Bengali countryside red.'- Shuja Nawaz, author of Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within

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Author Information

Sarmila Bose is Senior Research Fellow in the Politics of South Asia at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. She was a political journalist in India and combines academic and media work. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College and Harvard University.

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