Changing Homelands offers a startling new perspective on what was and was not politically possible in late colonial India. In this highly readable account of the partition in the Punjab; Neeti Nair rejects the idea that essential differences between the Hindu and Muslim communities made political settlement impossible. Far from being an inevitable solution; the idea of partition was a very late; stunning surprise to the majority of Hindus in the region.In tracing the political and social history of the Punjab from the early years of the twentieth century; Nair overturns the entrenched view that Muslims were responsible for the partition of India. Some powerful Punjabi Hindus also preferred partition and contributed to its adoption. Almost no one; however; foresaw the deaths and devastation that would follow in its wake.Though much has been written on the politics of the Muslim and Sikh communities in the Punjab; Nair is the first historian to focus on the Hindu minority; both before and long after the divide of 1947. She engages with politics in post-Partition India by drawing from oral histories that reveal the complex relationship between memory and history―a relationship that continues to inform politics between India and Pakistan.
#663491 in Books 2010-09-01 2010-04-12Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.34 x 1.01 x 6.01l; 1.01 #File Name: 0674046919408 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Fascinating Read...By Matthew W. QuinnKILLING FOR COAL is a fascinating look into a part of American history that's really not well-known. It starts out with a fascinating description of how the Colorado coal fields formed millions of years ago and continues on by describing how the mining of coal revolutionized the lives of the people living in the energy-poor and hostile West; although this came at an environmental price. It also does a great job describing the lives and culture of the miners and what led to the titular strike and violence.However; the latter part of the book doesn't live up to the promise of the prologue. The prologue discusses how the unrest spread from the miners into other sectors of the working class and how it looked like the strikers might take over the state; but that isn't really covered in the section covering the battles between the strikers and the guardsmen after the Ludlow Massacre. The battles aren't covered in great detail either. Finally; although the prologue discusses the trials of the strike organizers afterward and how various factors (including anti-Communism and even a period of dominance by the Klan) "encouraged" the miners to forget how they'd outright defeated the state government; there is almost nothing about the aftermath. Considering how well-done the early parts of the book are; this is a major missed opportunity.Still; it's a very informative book and definitely worth a read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Class Conflict in ColoradoBy not me"Killing for Coal" tells the history of the industrial conflicts that gripped Colorado's coalfields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's an excellent history; well-written; well-illustrated; and filled with sharp observations about the work of coal-mining and the nefarious methods employed by coal companies to break miners' unions. I took off one star only because the narrative loses focus at several points; as when it meditates on the culture of corporate paternalism or the implications of minerals-intensive energy consumption for human society.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Fortunes from fossil fuelBy Omnivorous ReaderThe author has encapsulated numerous social and economic conditions into a coherent chronicle of life struggling to exist both in and above the coal mines for the men and their families. It is a griping study of the truth in the social and environmental history of a labor struggle. The author's probes the origins of fossil fuel dependency in the American West; the role of workplace environments in shaping mine worker solidarity; and the coalescence of migrant laborers from many nations into a fighting force which culminates in spiraling violence between coal miners and mining companies during the Ludlow Massacre and Colorado Coalfield War of 1913-14.
