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From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia by Pankaj Mishra
hoboken's review against another edition
4.0
Outstanding. I've recently discovered this author, Pankaj Mishra. Maybe I spend too much time under my rock, but I think he should be much more widely known for his broad knowledge of history and deep understanding of the interaction between western and eastern philosophy and religion and the perspective he brings to it of someone who grew up struggling with both worlds.
If George W. Bush wants to know, as I believe he said, why "they hate us," he need only read this book. The relentless greed and vicious racism, the wars and exploitation, the broken promises and double dealing that the western colonizers practiced throughout Asia from the beginning of their dealings there were observed and absorbed by the boys and young men who grew up to be Gandhi, Nehru, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and through the generations to Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden.
"The western world is scarcely aware of this overwhelming feeling of humiliation that is experienced by most of the world's population." If you want to know how we got where we are now, it's a direct line.
Mishra ranges through Japan, China, Korea, Viet Nam, India, Afghanistan, Persia, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire from the late 1800s to the present discussing the lives and writings of the men who began to grapple with how Asia was to become "modern" and still somehow remain Asia.
"The fundamental challenge for the first generation of modern Asian intellectuals: how to reconcile themselves and others to the dwindling of their civilization through internal decay and Westernization while regaining parity and dignity in the eyes of the white rulers of the world."
Mishra knows so much history and can make so many cogent connections among time, space, and people; the writer he reminds me most of is the late Tony Judt, great explicator of modern European history. They would have made wonderful collaborators.
Mishra's latest book, just out, is Age of Anger, which brings this up to the present day. My husband's reading it now, and I'm fixing to as well as soon as he lets loose of it.
If George W. Bush wants to know, as I believe he said, why "they hate us," he need only read this book. The relentless greed and vicious racism, the wars and exploitation, the broken promises and double dealing that the western colonizers practiced throughout Asia from the beginning of their dealings there were observed and absorbed by the boys and young men who grew up to be Gandhi, Nehru, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and through the generations to Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden.
"The western world is scarcely aware of this overwhelming feeling of humiliation that is experienced by most of the world's population." If you want to know how we got where we are now, it's a direct line.
Mishra ranges through Japan, China, Korea, Viet Nam, India, Afghanistan, Persia, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire from the late 1800s to the present discussing the lives and writings of the men who began to grapple with how Asia was to become "modern" and still somehow remain Asia.
"The fundamental challenge for the first generation of modern Asian intellectuals: how to reconcile themselves and others to the dwindling of their civilization through internal decay and Westernization while regaining parity and dignity in the eyes of the white rulers of the world."
Mishra knows so much history and can make so many cogent connections among time, space, and people; the writer he reminds me most of is the late Tony Judt, great explicator of modern European history. They would have made wonderful collaborators.
Mishra's latest book, just out, is Age of Anger, which brings this up to the present day. My husband's reading it now, and I'm fixing to as well as soon as he lets loose of it.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
A really superb account of how Asian thinkers responded not only to western imperialism, but to Japan's successful defiance (and aping) of western imperialism. It is also an interesting way of exploring the pre-WWI age of globalization — Mishra's subjects were well traveled, were engaged with thinkers from all over the world, and were responding to a global exchange of ideas. I'm planning on writing a longer review of this book, but I just wanted to note that there's more than enough in this book to make it worth reading.
sbhatnag's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not going to lie - this book was a tough one to get through. Unlike other historians that I have read, such as Dalrymple and Guha, Pankaj Mishra's writing is much more dense, more "textbooky" (is that a word?), and not as entertaining. HOWEVER (all caps intentional), the content of the book is the reason I stuck with it. I felt like it was my responsibility as a global citizen, as a follower/former practitioner of foreign policy, as an Indian-American, to read this book - and learn about an alternative view of history and the anti-colonialism movement that I certainly was not taught in an American classroom. Every policymaker, especially in the United States, needs to read this book from cover to cover - it should be required reading for anyone working on Asia and the Middle East. And, lastly, it should be required reading for the people of Asia, particularly the growing powers of India and China. As Mishra states, "The rise of Asia, and the assertiveness of Asian people, consummates their revolt against the West that began more than a century ago; it is in many ways the revenge of the East. Yet this success conceals an immense intellectual failure... no convincingly universalist response exists today to Western ideas of politics and economy, even though these seem increasingly febrile and dangerously unsuitable in large parts of the world."
joemacare's review against another edition
5.0
I cannot recommend this highly enough. Made me realize how limited and Western-centric my knowledge of history was up until this point.
katescholastica's review against another edition
3.0
I’m glad I read the book, but I think the organization and formatting is challenging to overcome when almost all the information is new. Obviously, the book intends to highlight critical global events not discussed in the west while also challenging western interpretations of recognized global events (world wars, decolonization, economic movements, etc.) However, the lack of a printed timeline, maps, or glossaries made parts hard to follow. I had to constantly remind myself that when intellectuals are traveling between India and Japan or China and Turkey, these are massive distances.
That being said, the book follows through on its core goals and it does push me to read more history outside American and other Western development.
That being said, the book follows through on its core goals and it does push me to read more history outside American and other Western development.
andreinavhernandez98's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.75
It’s a great introduction into a history we are so often robbed off.
I did find helpful that I had studied in depth the XIX century from an Eastern perspective before. But someone that hasn’t will still find looots of ideas or, at the very least, starting points for further study and investigation.
It was easy to understand, though confusing at parts when it jump in time, which was constantly.
I already want to read it again because there is so much to learn here!
I did find helpful that I had studied in depth the XIX century from an Eastern perspective before. But someone that hasn’t will still find looots of ideas or, at the very least, starting points for further study and investigation.
It was easy to understand, though confusing at parts when it jump in time, which was constantly.
I already want to read it again because there is so much to learn here!