History

20 Mar

A ‘secular’ Godse and a fallible Mahatma

Book: Why I Killed the Mahatma -- Uncovering Godse's Defence; Author: Koenraad Elst; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 251 "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it," Winston Churchill had bragged with his trademark flourish, underlining the significant role which victors play in scripting the histories of their respective eras.Koenraad Elst's provocatively titled book "Why I killed the Mahatma...", is a dissertation examining Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse's defence in court during his trial, which eventually led to his hanging. And with this book, Elst, a Belgian Indologist, walks a path rarely trod on by other mainstream Indian historians,…

12 Jul

Dostum: Afghanistan’s brave liberator or violent warlord?

Title: The Last Warlord; Author: Brian Glyn Williams; Publisher: Harper Collins India; Pages: 372; Price: Rs 599 History is told by the victors but in our modern age, even contemporary events get -- or are given -- a slant, where some contributors soon get eclipsed from the narrative or their images tarnished. The changing perception of this key player in the murky, violent recent story of Afghanistan is a case in point. Is Abdul Rashid Dostum one of the infamous warlords whose internecine struggles for power destabilised Afghanistan till the Taliban rose to provide a cure worse than the ailment,…