About the Book
As recently as 1928, a vast swath of Asia stretching from the Red Sea to the borders of Thailand was bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the “Indian Empire” or, more simply, as the Raj. It was the British Empire’s crown jewel, home to a quarter of the world’s population. In the span of just fifty years, that empire shattered. Five partitions tore it apart, carving it into twelve modern nations, including not only India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but also Burma, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
In vivid and compulsively readable prose, Sam Dalrymple presents, for the first time, the whole story of how the Indian Empire was unmade. It’s a story of maps being redrawn in boardrooms and on battlefields, bumbling politicians in London and idealist revolutionaries in Delhi, kings in remote palaces and ordinary citizens swept up in wars and mass migrations. It is a history of ambition and betrayal, of forgotten wars and unlikely alliances, of borders carved with ink and fire. And it has left behind a legacy of exile and division.
It began in 1937, when Burma was carved out of India, to devastating result. The partition of the Arabian Peninsula started the same year with the separation of Aden and was completed in 1947 with the transfer of the Gulf States. Also in 1947 was the “Great Partition,” culminating in the largest forced migration in history and the creation of Pakistan, swiftly followed by the partition of Princely India. Finally, in 1971, the fledgling nation of Pakistan was itself torn apart, and Bangladesh was born.
Based on deep archival research, previously untranslated sources, and hundreds of interviews in English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Konyak, Arabic, and Burmese, Shattered Lands is an utterly gripping history that offers a new understanding of modern South Asia—one that brings to light the continuing legacy of empire.
About the Author :
Sam Dalrymple is a historian, filmmaker, and cofounder of Project Dastaan, a peace-building initiative that reconnects refugees displaced by the 1947 partition of India. He graduated from the University of Oxford as a Persian and Sanskrit scholar, and lives in Delhi.
Review :
"Remarkable. . . . The prose is vivid, the storytelling cinematic. . . . [A] clear-eyed history that lays bare the possibilities foreclosed by the region’s fragmentation."
"Examines with pace and verve the break-up of the vast domains of British India."
"A remarkable debut. . . . With Shattered Lands, [Sam Dalrymple] has injected new life into partition studies."
"A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian."
"It is astonishing that this story has not been told before. Both essential and irresistible reading—an unputdownable book."
"Richly researched and vividly written. Sam Dalrymple deftly explores the persisting fault lines of language, ethnicity, religion, and nation. An impressive debut by a gifted and very energetic young writer."
"A vivid, unputdownable account of the collapse of the Indian Empire. With clarity and narrative flair, Sam Dalrymple reimagines Partition as a series of upheavals, far more layered than commonly acknowledged—tracing its unique implications on geography, language, citizenship, economy, daily life, and the aspect of belonging. Both expansive and incisive, this is history recovered and restored to public memory."
"A stunning achievement. Shattered Lands reframes the story of South Asia with rare empathy and elegance, breathing life into the legacies of the partitions that shape a quarter of our world today."
"This is a book that combines scholarship with a flair for narrative story-telling of the highest order."
"Excellent…It is a disturbing story of hatred, violence and treachery….[P]acked with riveting detail."
"It is as if the tight-lipped reticence of our fathers and grandfathers has at last been unleashed, and we hear this epic tale of the Decline and Fall of the Raj for the first time, mingled with the proud struggle for freedom, independence and identity. This is a vast and intricate investigation, with an impressive geographical and political reach but skilfully combined with a page-turning focus on the principal players, their crimes, lovers, ideals and agents."
"A vivid account that is meticulous and memorable in detail and authoritative in its ambitious sweep. This is a stunning and assured debut, by an important new voice in narrative history and a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the making of modern Asia."
