Thursday, September 3, 2020

Book Review: Judgment of History by Mubarak Ali

Judgment of History is one of the more than eighty books published by Dr. Mubarak Ali. This book is a collection of articles on various themes in history and historiography. Ali presents a pro-people approach in his writings. 

He does not agree with the dominant narratives of history where local perspectives of the people are missing. In his simple style Ali discusses dynasties, imperial powers, Europe, Mughals, Arabs, Romans, traders, civilizations, conflict, social attitudes, wars, history of sub-continent and much more. His articles in this book are easy to read and understand.

Dr. Ali was born in Rajasthan in early 1940s and later in 1950s he migrated to Pakistan. He completed his doctorate degree from Ruhr University Germany. Before that he had studied history from Sindh University and had also served as a lecturer. In 1989, Ali was forced to resign from Sindh University.

By reading this book one gets a very clear message that history needs more research and dominant perspectives should not be accepted in any case, as they have been manufactured by the ruling elite. Distortion of history is another element which he points out in his writings. Students, teachers, researchers and anybody interested in history should get a copy of this book.


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