A history of Bangladesh

Schendel, Willem van. 2009. A History of Bangladesh. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xxiv + 347 pages. ISBN 978 0 521 67974 9.

How to write a history of poverty stricken and overpopulated Bangladesh, a country that after the British left India in 1947 first became (East) Pakistan and officially exists only since 1971? Bob van der Linden finds it unsurprising that A History of Bangladesh is more of a transnational narrative, focussing heavily on Bengal – as a region of ancient long-distance trade and modern imperial capitalism – India and Pakistan.

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