• ISBN13: 9788132109600
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: History
• Publisher: Sage Publications
• Publisher Imprint: SAGE India
• Publication Date: August 11, 2012
• Pages: 356
• Original Price: INR 775.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 500 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): General

Part historical chronicle, part socio-political treatise, Martyred but Not Tamed is devoted to the Middle East and focuses on the four most combustible countries at the heart of this supremely volatile area-Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Based on a series of extensive interviews with local actors, it also draws on the author′s extensive scholarship. Attentive throughout to the viewpoints of the victims, it stands as a refreshing corrective to the distortions or downright lies which all too often inform the ′authoritative′ discourse on the modern Middle East.

Along the way, in a systematic, thorough, yet vivid and highly readable manner, the book revisits several ′well-known′ episodes of recent history, but with an unsparing gaze, untainted by the softening lenses which tend to distort the self-serving Western narrative. It highlights the role played by Britain and the other colonial powers, which for pure expediency did not hesitate to carve up the body politic of the region; to exacerbate and exploit existing divides; to create new divisions where none existed; and to draw borders that defied all ethnic and historical logic, thereby sowing the seed of intractable conflicts such as the one between Israel and the Palestinians.

Lastly, in a long, densely informative chapter on "oil politics", the book lays bare the naked economic and strategic interests which prompted nearly all the moves of the imperial powers in the region, from the days of overt colonial occupation down to the present age of indirect control and disguised hegemony.

Narayan Kumar, Ram: -

The late Ram Narayan Kumar (1956-2009) was an independent political activist and thinker, based out of Delhi and Kathmandu.

He authored half a dozen books: three major works on Punjab (mainly 'The Sikh Struggle' and 'Reduced to Ashes'), a mid-life political autobiography ('Confronting the Hindu Sphinx'), and a volume on human rights studies. He also wrote numerous pamphlets, situation reports, and newspaper columns. He also led courses on Human Rights at SAFHR (an NGO with headquarters in Delhi and Kathmandu) for participants from all over South Asia.

Kumar's work was close to completion when he succumbed to a sudden heart attack, in June 2009, in Kathmandu. His relatives and closest collaborators then decided to entrust Professor Jean Ecalle, a long-time friend of Kumar's (who had closely followed the book project and regularly discussed Middle Eastern politics with the author) with the task of putting the final touches to the manuscript.

Professor Ecalle has written the foreword to the book and also has provided a much-needed Afterword.