“The 1971 war is ingrained within the political and cultural imagination of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. For nearly five decades, the “three children of Partition” have institutionalised the memory of this conflict at both the state and the people’s level in a manner that reinforces their respective state narratives. Anam Zakaria’s 1971: A people’s history from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India captures the nuances in a way the civil war that led to the creation of Bangladesh is embedded in the psyche of these three nations. Through interviews and detailed scrutiny of history-writing processes, museum exhibits and memorials, Zakaria’s account depicts how the cataclysmic events of 1971 are remembered and forgotten. 1971 doesn’t rely on a careful retelling of historical facts or profess to make any groundbreaking discoveries. On the contrary, the book places people at the fulcrum of the debate and uses the oral history method to unravel their war memories.” For full story click here.