Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta: ICHR Blocks Manuscript on Freedom Struggle Because It Makes the Sangh Look Bad, Alleges Historian

First posted September 13, 2017 While Hindu-right organisations, under the patronage of the Narendra Modi government, are claiming spaces within the spectrum of associations with instrumental roles to play in the India’s nationalist movement, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) – the primary government-sponsored institution for funding historical research and publications – has found itself… Read More Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta: ICHR Blocks Manuscript on Freedom Struggle Because It Makes the Sangh Look Bad, Alleges Historian

31st December 202231st December 2022 Dilip

Seventy-five Years After Indian Partition

Literature once filled in archival gaps by saying the unsayable. Now a younger generation is devising new modes of telling the story and finding new stories to tell. By Parul Sehgal Before it was an edict, and a death sentence, it was a rumor. To many, it must have seemed improbable; I imagine my grandmother, buying… Read More Seventy-five Years After Indian Partition

30th December 202230th December 2022 Dilip

Why India was blindsided in Nepal government formation

Bharat Bhushan With the ascendance of Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda as Prime Minister of Nepal and India’s bete noir K P Sharma Oli playing king-maker, the Indian establishment has come a cropper in the Himalayan nation. It was betting the house on a favourite, Sher Bahadur Deuba, whose party, the Nepali Congress although short of majority… Read More Why India was blindsided in Nepal government formation

27th December 2022 Dilip

The revenge of history in Ukraine: year of war has shaken up world order

The Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko recalls a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck: “Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers and parish priests.” It’s a country’s taught collective memory, its shared sense of its own history, that are the decisive instruments for mobilisation, and are as important on the battlefield as weaponry. Few… Read More The revenge of history in Ukraine: year of war has shaken up world order

26th December 202227th December 2022 Dilip

Why Turgenev Remains One of the Most Important Russian Writers

The English novel at the end of the 19th century had a problem, and that problem was French. Emile Zola had thrown the first stone. In his 1875 manifesto, Le Roman Experimental, the prominent French novelist insisted that in order to survive the industrial age the novel would have to turn away from the charms of… Read More Why Turgenev Remains One of the Most Important Russian Writers

26th December 202225th December 2022 Dilip

U.S. and German soldiers shared Christmas Eve dinner at height of WWII

By Dave Kindy’ On Christmas Eve 1944, heavy snow blanketed the Hürtgen Forest in Germany, near the Belgian border. Inside a tiny cabin deep in the woods, 12-year-old Fritz Vincken and his mother, Elisabeth, listened to warplanes and artillery shells as the Battle of the Bulge neared its climax. As they tried to make the most… Read More U.S. and German soldiers shared Christmas Eve dinner at height of WWII

25th December 202225th December 2022 Dilip

Achintya Barua remembers Ranajit Guha

Recollections that well up the eyes NB: This little remembrance was part of my presentation to a conference held between December 15 and 16 in Presidency University, Kolkata, to celebrate Professor Ranajit Guha’s attainment of the status of a centurion. I take no credit for it beyond that of asking my old friend and comrade… Read More Achintya Barua remembers Ranajit Guha

23rd December 202218th May 2026 Dilip

Remembering Rabindra

First posted January 19, 2019 Rabindra Ray, who taught sociology at the Delhi School of Economics till his retirement a few years ago, died on January 15, 2019. For 52 years I called him Lalloo (with two l’s). His death has led to an outpouring of memories from his friends and students. This is one… Read More Remembering Rabindra

23rd December 202223rd December 2022 Dilip

The Invention of Books in the Ancient World

Papyrus by Irene Vallejo review – how books built the world What do you give the queen who has everything? When Mark Antony was wondering how to impress Cleopatra in the run-up to the battle of Actium in 31BC, he knew that jewellery would hardly cut it. The queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt… Read More The Invention of Books in the Ancient World

21st December 202221st December 2022 Dilip

After the truth-shower

Philosophy, history, literature, current affairs, and other stuff. Posted by Dilip Simeon

Tag: History