Amritsar 1919
An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre

I am posting this review on the centenary of the Amritsar Massacre which took place on April 13 1919. On that day Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire over 1,600 (they counted) bullets at a densely packed, unarmed, crowd killing hundreds and injuring hundreds more. In Britain th......more

Wagner tells a cracking yarn! He marshals his cast of thousands with a deftness of touch and an ear for drama. The events of that fateful April polarise opinions; did so then and do so now. Corbyn and May faced off across the despatch box to mark the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh and pretty much rep......more

“We are not responsible for the past, but we are responsible for how we choose to remember (or forget) the past. And perhaps there are wounds that we should not attempt to heal.” A country with 5000-year-old civilization. A country which tolerated so much in the history yet managed to keep its soul a......more

We can (we must) learn from history and this book has many lessons to teach. Is it even possible for one country to rule another that is so ethnically different without brutal ruthlessness? Theoretically I guess so, even to the benefit of the governed people but only if laws are just, scrupulously f......more

Erg goed geschreven, Wagner weet het zo scherp te vertellen dat je soms vergeet dat dit al meer dan een eeuw geleden is gebeurd. Hij gebruikt veel en gevarieerd primair bronmateriaal en maakt daarmee ook een overtuigend punt; dat het bloedbad van Amritsar geen losstaande uitspatting was van het Brit......more