I have been reading this book The Glass Palace the last week. As a historical fiction fan I have found it quite fascinating because of the different prospective that it offers. It is written by a Bengali author, in English, and is about the British empire from the late 1800s to WWII from the prospective of an extended Indian/Burmese family. It is a nice change to read something, in its original language, about the colonial era from the prospective of those being colonized, rather then the British colonialists.
The reason I am writing about this is that a part in the book, as well as being in these countries torn apart by violent revolutions, makes me finally "get" Gandhi. As I wrote earlier, I read an autobiography of Gandhi awhile ago and this gave me a much more full picture of his life then I had before. I now know him as more then just a peaceful, Dohti wearing guy, but I still thought before today that he was too much of an idealist.
The thing about Gandhi is that even though he wanted India to be free, he wanted even more to solve India's social ills. In fact, he said that he did not want the British to go until India was ready to rule itself in a just way. Even at the point of independence, he still thought India was not really ready to rule itself. Also, he never wanted there to be a violent revolution. Despite the fact that it took 40 years for India to gain its freedom, he fought ferociously against the elements that wanted to go to war with the British.
When I first read this, I thought it was very admirable, but I did think that it was a little weak. Granted his strategy did work, but it took an incredible amount of time, and only worked because the British got tired of ruling a country that did not want them there. I did think that perhaps if the Indians has taken a more active course they may have still had independence, but just a lot sooner.
The thing that I did not take in to account is that, in general, even if your violent revolution is a success, you end up with a country ruled by violent revolutionaries. The problem is that the kind of people that are effective at fighting a war are also terrible, ruthless leaders after the war is over. A large part of the reason why a chaotic country like India became a stable democracy is that its political revolution resulted in politicians, not generals, becoming its first leaders. I am not an expert on Nehru, nor do I agree with all his ideas, but at least he was a secular politician who believed in democracy. The chances of a violent revolution producing a leader who fits that description are slight at best. The problem is that there is only one Gandhi, so violent revolutions will exist for as long as there are people who do not like their government.
Incidentally, I do realize that the American revolution is the one example I can think of where a violent revolution did not result in an early government with totalitarian tendencies. I am not sure yet why I think this happened the way that it did. One thing I can think of is that it was a different era, and it was English colonists fighting against the English crown, not another race or culture of people. It also, however, makes one think about how unique the early Americans were to take power for England but then give all that power to a democratic government. Perhaps they were one of a kind in their own way as well.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Friday, December 7, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Beach Reading and More
While traveling through Asia, I have tried to rectify my deficient knowledge of world history by reading Asian history or historical fiction. No this is not beach reading, but I have never been the type to read about poor beautiful girls in New York trying to find a rich husband. Shogun gave me insight to Japan's rich feudal heritage. In India, the Lewis Fischer's biography of Gandhi and William Dalrymple's The Age of Kali taught me a great deal of Indian history. Thailand has few authors that write about anything except finding oneself, doing drugs, beaches, time in the infamous Bangkok jail, and marrying prostitutes. The real winners combine all 5 in one. Cheng and Eng, a fictional book based on the real Siamese twins, gave me a glimpse of 1800's life on the Mekong in Thailand. Ambitv Gosh's The Glass Palace concentrated more on colonial Burma, India, and Malaysia with a little of Thailand mixed in.
Volumes are written about places where terrible things have happened. I started my breif studies on Cambodian history with First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. I tore through this 250 page book in only 6 hours on the ferry from Koh Tao. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a first hand account of what the Khmer Rouge did. In brief, the Khmer Rouge overtook Phenom Pehn in April 1975 and drove the inhabitants of this city and others into countryside work camps. In the following 4 years and 8 months, they enslaved their population in farming camps to fulfill some Utopian communist dream. They summarily executed those with higher education or loyal to the former government. They tortured and killed some 14,000 - 20,000 men, women, and children in a high school in Phenom Pehn now know as S-21 or Tuol Sleung.
Ian and I visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum yesterday. It is quite ironic that the tuk-tuk driver's touts to tourists usually start with "hello, want to see the killing fields and S-21?" The class rooms of this sunny high school were turned into between 1 - 30 cells each. Prisoners were kept shackled to the floor and tortured. Like the Nazis, the KR were fastidious about their record keeping. They took photos of each person alive, and many dead which are all shown in the museum. The people were taken to the killing fields, about 15km away, and bludgeoned before being left to die in a mass grave. In Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp which I visited in 1997, the solemn grounds have been able to mellow after 60 years. However, the barbed-wire wrapped Tuol Sleung still has violence in the air. There is a photo exhibit of men and women who worked (likely forced) in the prison. They are still living among the people of Cambodia, many of whom lost loved ones. There is still blood on many of the floors of the cells. The pictures of the main architects, one was Duch who will received a hearing on Monday in the war crimes tribunal, are scribbled with angry Khmer graffiti. There exist the actual tools of torture, including a water-boarding tank. It's nice to know that some of our presidential hopefuls endorse the torture techniques of the Khmer Rouge.
Finally the North Vietnamese, having recently defeated the Americans and South Vietnamese, invaded to end the Khmer Rouge reign in 1979 because the KR were massacring Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta. Sadly, the KH were responsible for the extermination of between 1.4 - 2.2 million Cambodians either directly or through starvation and tens of thousands of Vietnamese in South Vietnam only 4 years and 8 months of their reign.
Henry Kamm was a NYT correspondent in Cambodia from 1970 - the 1990s. He skillfully penned Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land and answered many of the burning questions I had about the rise, reign, and fall of the Khmer Rouge.
I also highly recommend this book as a thoughtful history and analysis of this dark period in history. It's not exactly beach reading, but that's not what I'm here for.
Check back in a few days for links to pictures I took at Tuol Sleng.
- Nisha
Volumes are written about places where terrible things have happened. I started my breif studies on Cambodian history with First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. I tore through this 250 page book in only 6 hours on the ferry from Koh Tao. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a first hand account of what the Khmer Rouge did. In brief, the Khmer Rouge overtook Phenom Pehn in April 1975 and drove the inhabitants of this city and others into countryside work camps. In the following 4 years and 8 months, they enslaved their population in farming camps to fulfill some Utopian communist dream. They summarily executed those with higher education or loyal to the former government. They tortured and killed some 14,000 - 20,000 men, women, and children in a high school in Phenom Pehn now know as S-21 or Tuol Sleung.
Ian and I visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum yesterday. It is quite ironic that the tuk-tuk driver's touts to tourists usually start with "hello, want to see the killing fields and S-21?" The class rooms of this sunny high school were turned into between 1 - 30 cells each. Prisoners were kept shackled to the floor and tortured. Like the Nazis, the KR were fastidious about their record keeping. They took photos of each person alive, and many dead which are all shown in the museum. The people were taken to the killing fields, about 15km away, and bludgeoned before being left to die in a mass grave. In Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp which I visited in 1997, the solemn grounds have been able to mellow after 60 years. However, the barbed-wire wrapped Tuol Sleung still has violence in the air. There is a photo exhibit of men and women who worked (likely forced) in the prison. They are still living among the people of Cambodia, many of whom lost loved ones. There is still blood on many of the floors of the cells. The pictures of the main architects, one was Duch who will received a hearing on Monday in the war crimes tribunal, are scribbled with angry Khmer graffiti. There exist the actual tools of torture, including a water-boarding tank. It's nice to know that some of our presidential hopefuls endorse the torture techniques of the Khmer Rouge.
Finally the North Vietnamese, having recently defeated the Americans and South Vietnamese, invaded to end the Khmer Rouge reign in 1979 because the KR were massacring Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta. Sadly, the KH were responsible for the extermination of between 1.4 - 2.2 million Cambodians either directly or through starvation and tens of thousands of Vietnamese in South Vietnam only 4 years and 8 months of their reign.
Henry Kamm was a NYT correspondent in Cambodia from 1970 - the 1990s. He skillfully penned Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land and answered many of the burning questions I had about the rise, reign, and fall of the Khmer Rouge.
I also highly recommend this book as a thoughtful history and analysis of this dark period in history. It's not exactly beach reading, but that's not what I'm here for.
Check back in a few days for links to pictures I took at Tuol Sleng.
- Nisha
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Book Corner II
I have continued with my increased reading level since the last version of this column, so I thought I would catch up with what I have read since.
The Age of Kali - William Dalrymple
Nisha found this book first, and after hearing much about it I decided to keep on the Indian theme after the Gandhi autobiography. This book was also nice because it is a collection of short articles, so many stories almost read like a long Economist article.
Basically this book is a collection of stories from the premier English language author on India today, written as he was researching stories for books in the mid 90s. It is a little out of date because it portrays India as teetering on the edge of oblivion, when we now now that they following 12 years were one of the most prosperous in its history. However, the stories are very well written, and give a lot of insight into the darker sides of rural, traditional India. Also, there is a very interesting section on Pakistan that is very topical since it was written before 9/11.
My only real complaint with the book is that the author is certainly very sentimental, especially with the old coots who tell him tails of India many years ago. He is a historical fiction writer, so it is understandable, but he does not bring any prospective to the old tales of the glory of Lucknow, Hyderabad, etc. before independence. Things may have been better in those cities back in the day, but reading this book you would think the streets were paved in gold and the tap water was wine.
This is really my only complaint however, and this book really is a great way to get a lot of interesting history about the entire subcontinent. Just keep a little prospective on the ramblings of old men.
The Ramayana - R. K. Narayan
The Ramayana is one of the big epics of Hinduism and is referenced in paintings, songs and pretty much everything that has to do with Indian culture. Since I knew so little about it I looked around a bookshop and found this shortened English version of the epic written by a prominent Indian author. At only around 150 pages I figured it would we worth while to get a little background on Hinduism and read this book.
It reads a lot like the Roman and Greek mythology that you read in school. It is a tale of gods having fantastic battles in a mythical version of India. The story itself is a pretty basic tale of god meets girl, marries girl, rival god steals girl, good god takes girl back. It is somewhat entertaining, and does let you understand a lot more about Indian art and culture.
However, I did feel a little empty after reading it. Perhaps it is because it is so shortened, but even though I now know they basics of the Rama story, I do not really understand why it is of such great significance. Perhaps reading the whole epic makes the significance more clear, for me it was just a bunch of gods running around doing a bunch of stuff. Anyway, I found it to be useful, and brief, reading, but all in all, not essential.
Shalimar the Clown - Salman Rushdie
I know Salman Rushdie is mostly known in the US for his issues with the Ayatollah in the 80s, but as Nisha discovered, he should be known for his writing.
This book is the sordid tale of an American ambassador and a group of Kashmiri entertainers, spanning the trouble in Kashmir since Indian independence. It does a great job of being a real page turner, as well as feeling like literature. It also feels quite current since it deals with some of the issues of Islamic extremism that we deal with today.
The story is great in of itself, but the real star is Rushdies writing. His style is so fresh and modern, without being shallow. The first part of the book is one of the best constructed character introductions I have ever read. The whole story is set up as digressions to the climax of the book, which is at the beginning, intertwined with a fair amount of sarcasm and pop culture references. The rest of the book that follows is written in a more straight forward manner, but is still a tour de force.
Highly recommended.
Tai-Pan - James Clavell
After a time away from the big books, and in preparation for going to Hong Kong, I decided to tackle another James Clavell beast.
Tai-Pan is based in Hong Kong, 240 years after Shogun, but was actually written 9 years earlier. I will not hide the fact that I like James Clavell. I once again found this book to be an entertaining, swashbuckling, historical fiction romp. As reading Shogun makes you want to go to Japan, this book certainly increases your interest in Hong Kong.
Shogun and Tai-Pan are very similar. However, I would suspect that if you asked Clavell, he would tell you that the lessons he learned writing Tai-Pan were used to make improvements in Shogun. Probably the greatest thing about Shogun is how he seamlessly weaves together the many different characters and plot lines. Also, in Shogun the main protagonist is not the most important character to history, but rather an important bit player, which allows him to both look in the mind of Toranaga (the Shogun) but also leave him shrouded in mystery.
Tai-Pan is more of a standard novel, where the hero is the most important guy, and the whole book is pretty much focused around him. There are a lot of characters, but the vast majority of the writing is from the prospective of the Tai-Pan (meaning "big boss" in Chinese). It is still entertaining, but lacks the artfulness that brings Shogun to the next level.
If you want to read one Clavell book, I would still say to read Shogun first. It is the first one chronologically anyway.
The Age of Kali - William Dalrymple
Nisha found this book first, and after hearing much about it I decided to keep on the Indian theme after the Gandhi autobiography. This book was also nice because it is a collection of short articles, so many stories almost read like a long Economist article.
Basically this book is a collection of stories from the premier English language author on India today, written as he was researching stories for books in the mid 90s. It is a little out of date because it portrays India as teetering on the edge of oblivion, when we now now that they following 12 years were one of the most prosperous in its history. However, the stories are very well written, and give a lot of insight into the darker sides of rural, traditional India. Also, there is a very interesting section on Pakistan that is very topical since it was written before 9/11.
My only real complaint with the book is that the author is certainly very sentimental, especially with the old coots who tell him tails of India many years ago. He is a historical fiction writer, so it is understandable, but he does not bring any prospective to the old tales of the glory of Lucknow, Hyderabad, etc. before independence. Things may have been better in those cities back in the day, but reading this book you would think the streets were paved in gold and the tap water was wine.
This is really my only complaint however, and this book really is a great way to get a lot of interesting history about the entire subcontinent. Just keep a little prospective on the ramblings of old men.
The Ramayana - R. K. Narayan
The Ramayana is one of the big epics of Hinduism and is referenced in paintings, songs and pretty much everything that has to do with Indian culture. Since I knew so little about it I looked around a bookshop and found this shortened English version of the epic written by a prominent Indian author. At only around 150 pages I figured it would we worth while to get a little background on Hinduism and read this book.
It reads a lot like the Roman and Greek mythology that you read in school. It is a tale of gods having fantastic battles in a mythical version of India. The story itself is a pretty basic tale of god meets girl, marries girl, rival god steals girl, good god takes girl back. It is somewhat entertaining, and does let you understand a lot more about Indian art and culture.
However, I did feel a little empty after reading it. Perhaps it is because it is so shortened, but even though I now know they basics of the Rama story, I do not really understand why it is of such great significance. Perhaps reading the whole epic makes the significance more clear, for me it was just a bunch of gods running around doing a bunch of stuff. Anyway, I found it to be useful, and brief, reading, but all in all, not essential.
Shalimar the Clown - Salman Rushdie
I know Salman Rushdie is mostly known in the US for his issues with the Ayatollah in the 80s, but as Nisha discovered, he should be known for his writing.
This book is the sordid tale of an American ambassador and a group of Kashmiri entertainers, spanning the trouble in Kashmir since Indian independence. It does a great job of being a real page turner, as well as feeling like literature. It also feels quite current since it deals with some of the issues of Islamic extremism that we deal with today.
The story is great in of itself, but the real star is Rushdies writing. His style is so fresh and modern, without being shallow. The first part of the book is one of the best constructed character introductions I have ever read. The whole story is set up as digressions to the climax of the book, which is at the beginning, intertwined with a fair amount of sarcasm and pop culture references. The rest of the book that follows is written in a more straight forward manner, but is still a tour de force.
Highly recommended.
Tai-Pan - James Clavell
After a time away from the big books, and in preparation for going to Hong Kong, I decided to tackle another James Clavell beast.
Tai-Pan is based in Hong Kong, 240 years after Shogun, but was actually written 9 years earlier. I will not hide the fact that I like James Clavell. I once again found this book to be an entertaining, swashbuckling, historical fiction romp. As reading Shogun makes you want to go to Japan, this book certainly increases your interest in Hong Kong.
Shogun and Tai-Pan are very similar. However, I would suspect that if you asked Clavell, he would tell you that the lessons he learned writing Tai-Pan were used to make improvements in Shogun. Probably the greatest thing about Shogun is how he seamlessly weaves together the many different characters and plot lines. Also, in Shogun the main protagonist is not the most important character to history, but rather an important bit player, which allows him to both look in the mind of Toranaga (the Shogun) but also leave him shrouded in mystery.
Tai-Pan is more of a standard novel, where the hero is the most important guy, and the whole book is pretty much focused around him. There are a lot of characters, but the vast majority of the writing is from the prospective of the Tai-Pan (meaning "big boss" in Chinese). It is still entertaining, but lacks the artfulness that brings Shogun to the next level.
If you want to read one Clavell book, I would still say to read Shogun first. It is the first one chronologically anyway.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Book Corner
After a long hiatus I am back into reading (this is Ian by the way). Long train rides and a couple of English channels on TV tend to do that to you. Anyway, without further adieu, I just figured I would write a little on what I have read.
Obviously I am reading a lot about Asia right now, as it kind of seems appropriate.
Shadow of the Moon - M.M. Kaye
This was Nisha's favorite book she read growing up so she insisted that I read it at some point. I am glad I did because it is both a very good story, and gives you some good background about the British Raj, especially the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a love story book, so there is a fair amount of sappiness, but it is good none the less.
It is the love story of a officer in the British East India company and an Anglo-Spanish woman who was born in India then grows up in England before returning to her homeland. It is set around the 1857 rebellion, where the Indian regiments of the company rose up and killed their British leaders, before being suppressed eventually by loyal British troops. The rebellion ended the East India company and resulted in the direct crown control of India that lasted until 1947.
I was actually not a huge fan of the author's writing style, but the love story was well crafted. This book also gives you a lot of good history of the rebellion, as well as the atmosphere of India at the time. The shortcomings and attitudes that were the downfall of the British Raj are also probed in depth. R ecommended, unless you think the romance angle is not for you.
Shogun - James Clavell
I read this book many years ago and remembered it very fondly as one of the best books I ever read. Having now been to Japan, I re-read this behemoth. It was as satisfying now as it was back then.
Japan is obviously totally different, but one of the most interesting things about Shogun still applies when you go there in the 21st century. That is the question of who is really more civilized. In the book, the Englishman who lands in Japan first considers the locals to be primitive barbarians, but the thing is that the Japanese feel the same way about him. After a while, and many Onsen dips later, he looks at the dirt and grime of Europe at that time with total disdain. He remains an outsider, but the order and cleanliness or Japan make him question who is really all that civilized.
When you go there now, many of the same things still apply. You realize that their culture is so complex and their language so daunting that you will always be the outsider. However, all the positive things of Japan and the culture of order and cleanliness also make you question why we do some of the things we do at home. After a while you do start to get a little disgusted about wearing shoes inside and feel a little gross without your evening Onsen dip.
However, you also realize that the unpredictability of westerners, our non-conformity and our willingness to break out of tradition are rare qualities in Japan. They are for the main character of the book, and they still are today.
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Nisha read this first and then recommended it to me. It is a biography of Gandhi written in 1951, a few years after his assassination. The author is a journalist that knew and spent some time with Gandhi, giving him some interesting anecdotes to add to the biography.
Before I read this book my only impression of Gandhi was the same as most younger people. He was just some guy who walked around in a Dothi and somehow got the British to leave India. This book was really great to get a lot more knowledge about Indian independence and Gandhi's role. It is written by a fan of Gandhi, so it may not be completely balanced, but that love of Gandhi's vision brings a good passion to the book and the writing.
One of the main things that you take from the book is that the most amazing aspect of Gandhi is how he captured the soul of a nation without being a politician. He was involved in politics, but helping individuals and trying to fix the flaws that he saw in Indian society was his real passion. This passion was even more important to him then independence. He also did not openly pursue this role as moral authority for a people, he simply did what he thought was right and the authority came to him.
The other main thing for me is that although Gandhi succeeded in gaining independence, he ended his life distraught that he failed in letting the Partition of India occur. The idea that Hindus and Muslims could live together in peace was one of his most important missions. The partition and the 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died were the marks of his failure.
It is also interesting to hear about a lot of the crackpot ideas that he had about medicine, food and health. I say crackpot because even he admitted that his ideas were as such. You realize that although he was a great man, it would not necessarily be a good thing for everyone to follow exactly in his footsteps. Even a great man can be wrong about many things, as Gandhi would be happy to admit.
Obviously I am reading a lot about Asia right now, as it kind of seems appropriate.
Shadow of the Moon - M.M. Kaye
This was Nisha's favorite book she read growing up so she insisted that I read it at some point. I am glad I did because it is both a very good story, and gives you some good background about the British Raj, especially the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a love story book, so there is a fair amount of sappiness, but it is good none the less.
It is the love story of a officer in the British East India company and an Anglo-Spanish woman who was born in India then grows up in England before returning to her homeland. It is set around the 1857 rebellion, where the Indian regiments of the company rose up and killed their British leaders, before being suppressed eventually by loyal British troops. The rebellion ended the East India company and resulted in the direct crown control of India that lasted until 1947.
I was actually not a huge fan of the author's writing style, but the love story was well crafted. This book also gives you a lot of good history of the rebellion, as well as the atmosphere of India at the time. The shortcomings and attitudes that were the downfall of the British Raj are also probed in depth. R ecommended, unless you think the romance angle is not for you.
Shogun - James Clavell
I read this book many years ago and remembered it very fondly as one of the best books I ever read. Having now been to Japan, I re-read this behemoth. It was as satisfying now as it was back then.
Japan is obviously totally different, but one of the most interesting things about Shogun still applies when you go there in the 21st century. That is the question of who is really more civilized. In the book, the Englishman who lands in Japan first considers the locals to be primitive barbarians, but the thing is that the Japanese feel the same way about him. After a while, and many Onsen dips later, he looks at the dirt and grime of Europe at that time with total disdain. He remains an outsider, but the order and cleanliness or Japan make him question who is really all that civilized.
When you go there now, many of the same things still apply. You realize that their culture is so complex and their language so daunting that you will always be the outsider. However, all the positive things of Japan and the culture of order and cleanliness also make you question why we do some of the things we do at home. After a while you do start to get a little disgusted about wearing shoes inside and feel a little gross without your evening Onsen dip.
However, you also realize that the unpredictability of westerners, our non-conformity and our willingness to break out of tradition are rare qualities in Japan. They are for the main character of the book, and they still are today.
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi - Louis Fischer
Nisha read this first and then recommended it to me. It is a biography of Gandhi written in 1951, a few years after his assassination. The author is a journalist that knew and spent some time with Gandhi, giving him some interesting anecdotes to add to the biography.
Before I read this book my only impression of Gandhi was the same as most younger people. He was just some guy who walked around in a Dothi and somehow got the British to leave India. This book was really great to get a lot more knowledge about Indian independence and Gandhi's role. It is written by a fan of Gandhi, so it may not be completely balanced, but that love of Gandhi's vision brings a good passion to the book and the writing.
One of the main things that you take from the book is that the most amazing aspect of Gandhi is how he captured the soul of a nation without being a politician. He was involved in politics, but helping individuals and trying to fix the flaws that he saw in Indian society was his real passion. This passion was even more important to him then independence. He also did not openly pursue this role as moral authority for a people, he simply did what he thought was right and the authority came to him.
The other main thing for me is that although Gandhi succeeded in gaining independence, he ended his life distraught that he failed in letting the Partition of India occur. The idea that Hindus and Muslims could live together in peace was one of his most important missions. The partition and the 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died were the marks of his failure.
It is also interesting to hear about a lot of the crackpot ideas that he had about medicine, food and health. I say crackpot because even he admitted that his ideas were as such. You realize that although he was a great man, it would not necessarily be a good thing for everyone to follow exactly in his footsteps. Even a great man can be wrong about many things, as Gandhi would be happy to admit.
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