Author Description
The Years Leading Up To The Independence And Accompanying Partition Of India Mark A Tumultuous Period In The History Of Bengal. Representing Both A Major Front In The Indian Struggle Against Colonial Rule, As Well As A Crucial Allied Outpost In The British/american War Against Japan, Bengal Stood At The Crossroads Of Complex And Contentious Structural Forces - Both Domestic And International - Which, Taken Together, Defined An Era Of Political Uncertainty, Social Turmoil And Collective Violence. While For The British The Overarching Priority Was To Save The Empire From Imminent Collapse At Any Cost, For The Majority Of The Indian Population The 1940s Were Years Of Acute Scarcity, Violent Dislocation And Enduring Calamity. In Particular There Are Three Major Crises That Shaped The Social, Economic And Political Context Of Pre-partition Bengal: The Second World War, The Bengal Famine Of 1943, And The Calcutta Riots Of 1946. Hungry Bengal Examines These Intricately Interconnected Events, Foregrounding The Political Economy Of War And Famine In Order To Analyse The Complex Nexus Of Hunger, War And Civil Violence In Colonial Bengal At The Twilight Of British Rule.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates how the convergence of the Second World War, the 1943 Bengal Famine, and the 1946 Calcutta Riots fundamentally destabilized colonial Bengal during the final years of British rule. Janam Mukherjee, a historian specializing in modern South Asian history, utilizes a political economy framework to argue that these crises were not isolated incidents but were instead deeply interconnected consequences of imperial policy. By examining the intersection of wartime logistics and local social collapse, the author demonstrates how the British priority of imperial preservation directly exacerbated the suffering of the Indian population.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the political economy of the 1940s in Bengal
- Examination of the 1943 Bengal Famine as a man-made catastrophe
- Investigation into the 1946 Calcutta Riots as a symptom of systemic collapse
- Evaluation of British colonial policy during the Second World War
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a comprehensive military history of the Allied war effort in the region
- The analysis focuses primarily on the structural and political causes rather than individual biographical accounts
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and historians recognize this text as a rigorous examination of the structural failures of the British Raj during its final decade. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a detailed and sobering look at the intersection of imperial policy and human catastrophe.
Page Count:
336
Publication Date:
2015-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190613068
ISBN-13:
9780190613068
History
War
India
Social History
Colonialism
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