Beginning in 1947, when "India and Pakistan were born to conflict," renowned India scholar Stanley Wolpert provides an authoritative, accessible primer on what is potentially the world's most dangerous crisis. He concisely distills sixty-three years of complex history, tracing the roots of the relationship between these two antagonists, explaining the many attempts to resolve their disputes, and assessing the dominant political leaders. While the tragic Partition left many urgent problems, none has been more difficult than the problem over Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan. This intensely divisive issue has triggered two conventional wars, killed some 100,000 Kashmiris, and almost ignited two nuclear wars since 1998, when both India and Pakistan openly emerged as nuclear-weapon states. In addition to providing a comprehensive perspective on the origin and nature of this urgent conflict, Wolpert examines all the proposed solutions and concludes with a road map for a brighter future for South Asia.
Stanley Wolpert is the author of fourteen books, including India, now in its fourth edition from UC Press, A New History of India, now in its eighth edition, and Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. He is Professor Emeritus in the History Department at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Stanley Wolpert is one of our country's most prominent, prolific and insightful scholars writing about India and Pakistan's complex relationship, which has been too often defined by conflict and tragedy. His new work, India and Pakistan, is not only an illuminating survey of the countries' intertwined history but also a thoughtful, in-depth review of the issues that have divided India and Pakistan since their inception. This is an important book, written with the benefit of deep knowledge of the region and informed by incisive and erudite analysis."—Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
"Professor Stanley Wolpert's latest is a wonderfully lucid and succinct survey of the tangled web of India-Pakistan relations over the decades. Its high point is the last chapter on the potential solutions to the Kashmir conflict—a must read for the people and leaders of the two nations. It should be immediately translated."—Dilip K. Basu, University of California, Santa Cruz
144 pp.5.5 x 8.25Illus: 3 maps
9780520271401$22.95|£20.00Paper
Sep 2010