Saturday, August 19, 2023

Book Review: The Life of Tipu Sultan by Kate Brittlebank

Tipu Sultan was born on the 20th of November 1750. From the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to Powis Castle in Wales to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, today's tourist can see displays of Tipu memorabilia from the material to the mundane (p. 4).Tipu's father was Haider Ali, in whose time Mysore was in a strong position (p. 10). Haider Ali began his rise through the ranks of the Mysore army of the Wodeyars. Mysore allied itself...

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Book Review: The Struggle for Hegemony in Pakistan: Fear, Desire and Revolutionary Horizons

 Aasim Sajjad Akhtar says that a grounded theory of politics is much needed for the formerly colonized South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (p. 3). He states that this book brings attention to the challenge of 'forging an alternative hegemonic conception in the historically imperialized zones of the world- system' (p. 5). The author stresses that one cannot understand the global crises without centering attention on non-western, postcolonial regions,...

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Book Review: Their Language of Love by Bapsi Sidhwa

In this book, Bapsi Sidhwa presents her first collection of short stories. Sidhwa admits that her short stories are lengthy, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them. The stories covered in this collection takes the reader into the realm of post-colonial diaspora. The cultural world in each stories are described with great detail. These stories also show how factors such as language, class, religion and ethnicity play important roles. I...

Monday, August 7, 2023

Book Review: Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World

The main thesis of the book stresses that all leaders of nations are constrained by geography. Marshall states that their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas, and concrete. He examines Russia, China, USA, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Western Europe, Japan and Korea, and Greenland and the Arctic. Marshall includes their climates, seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, and borders- to provide a context often missing from political...