Imperial Designs: War, Humiliation & the Making of History

Since the age of Alexander the Great, waves of foreign armies have invaded the Middle East and South Asia to plunder their vast treasures. In Imperial Designs, Deepak Tripathi offers a powerful and unique analysis of how this volatile region has endured the manipulation and humiliation of such wars. He argues that these foreign invasions to gain access to others' wealth and the consequent ignominy of the defeated peoples of the regions have had far-reaching consequences.

Over the centuries, again and again, the conquered peoples have been left helpless, their shame on display. The victims' collective frustration has strengthened their will to resist and avenge the wrongs done to them--all according to their own values and in their own time. Displaying a keen awareness of Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, Tripathi argues that this enduring theme resonates throughout the region's history and informs the present. Referring to declassified official documents and scholarly works, Imperial Designs offers an authoritative analysis of Middle Eastern history since World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Scholars, policymakers, and concerned citizens should read this book, for it tells us how the shame of defeat radicalizes nations and societies, and often makes future conflict inevitable.
CHOICE REVIEW (January 2014 Vol. 51 No. 05)Historians have long noted the sense of loss due to conquest in the Middle East and South Asia; Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser's redemption in the 1956 Suez crisis, for example, placed him as the first modern Arab political "winner." Former BBC correspondent Tripathi (honorary research fellow, Univ. of Roehampton, UK) here completes his trilogy (Breeding Ground, CH, Nov'11, 49-1729; Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2010) on regional violence, using a meandering yet readable approach to illuminate historical alienation for today's Western audiences. Summing UP: Recommended. General readers, undergraduates, and professionals.