Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia

For a subcontinent that still reels from the aftershocks of an excruciating Partition, the very mention of the term is not only evocative of pain but also stirs a sense of curiosity, yet to be satiated in the minds of millions, about what caused it and how long the aftereffects would last. This is true even after more than seven decades have passed, despite a plethora of existing literature already being there as part of the Partition’s discourse. Against this backdrop, Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia adds new perspectives to the domain, which has predominantly kept the Partition confined to the creation of Pakistan from British India in 1947. The book disentangles Partition by situating it within a much broader framework, arguing that it is not one Partition that defined the subcontinent’s trajectory but five.