While the majority of its Bangladeshi's are committed moderate Muslims a minority adhere to extreme interpretations of Islam. This became public in the 2016 Holy Artisan Bakery attack leaving 29 dead. Joseph Allchin's 'Many Rivers- One Sea' (2019) looks at the local political culture of Islamism.
A history book which is not strictly about Bangladesh but in which the country features extensively is 'Shattered Lands' by Sam Dalrymple (2025). This tells the story of the fracturing of the British Indian empire starting with the 1936 separation of Burma to the Bangladesh liberation war.
Neamat Imam's 'The Black Coat' (2013) is a historical novel set in the period documented in the 'Legacy of Blood' when the first government of Bangladesh began spiraling out of control as the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman faced a major famine and turned authoritarian.
A pdf of "Bangladesh a Legacy of Blood' is available on the following link: sanipanhwar.com/uploads/book...
A pdf of 'The Rape of Bangladesh' (1972) is available on the following link: sanipanhwar.com/uploads/book...
The first book 'The Rape of Bangladesh' covered the liberation war period while the second book Bangladesh a 'Legacy of Blood' was written by Mascarenhas on his deathbed in 1986 and covers the first 15 years of Bangladeshi independence is highly critical of the entire Bangladesh leadership.
The next recommendation are two excellent first drafts of Bangladeshi History by the Indian born Pakistani Christian journalist Anthony Mascarenhas who covered the 1971 War of Independence for the UK newspaper the Sunday Times.
A copy of this book can be found at the following link mchistelibrary.com/wp-content/u...
Book cover 'A history of Bangladesh' by Willem Van Schendal showing a Bengali man on a cycle rickshaw
Willem Van Schendal a Dutch academic wrote one of the first attempts at a general history of the territory of Bangladesh. 'A History of Bangladesh' (2009) Cambridge University Press is a useful introduction to the history of the country starting at pre history up to the turn of the millennium.
Six book covers
I have chosen a number of factual and fiction titles which will give at least a flavour of Bangladeshi history and politics
A picture of a street mural in Dhaka, Bangladesh showing a map of Bangladesh with the national flag (green background with a red circle in the middle) in the middle, The slogan Bangladesh 2.0 is underneath the map.
There are not that many English language books covering Bangladesh and its history. This thread will try and identify a few which will help give you a basic background. #Bangladesh #Books
I had the privilege of delivering copies of Rohingya poet Abdul Osman's first book 'Hope' which has been published by Ronan Lee. Here is a video of Abdul reading one of his poems in a tea shop in Camp 15, Cox's Bazar.
Four years ago the most popular leader of Rohingya civil society in the camps, Mohibullah, was gunned down by unidentified Rohingya gunmen (probably ARSA). This is a photograph from a meeting with him and the Norwegian Ambassador just three days before he died. He will be missed today in New York.
For those interested in today's UN Conference on the Rohingya there will be live coverage on this site from about 8pm BD time (NY 10 am) through this link webtv.un.org/en/asset/k13...
A red safety flag flying on a beach in Cox's Bazar at sunset
Not the Jolly Roger rather a beach safety flag in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Sadly, from 30 September due to funding cuts the lifeguards will no longer be patrolling the tourist beaches
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmaU...
Rohingya mujahid surrenders his weapon to Brigadier-General Aung Gyi, 4 July 1961. This was part of an agreement to establish the Mayu Frontier District, which saw what is now the Maungdaw District of Rakhine State established, giving limited autonomy to the Rohingya in this area between 1961 & 1964
I was very sorry to hear of the death of Gwen Robinson @robinsonbkk.bsky.social in Bangkok yesterday. Myanmar has lost one of its ablest chroniclers, and those of us who work on the country's politics have lost a key lynchpin who knew everyone and gave advice freely.
Just ended UNDP Bangladesh Country Office retreat in Cox's Bazar, it was good to welcome colleagues to CXB.
On the 8th January 1947 the future Pakistan leader Jinnah assured the future Burmese leader Aung San that he had no territorial aspirations for Northern Arakan (now Rakhine State). This is a policy which Dhaka/Dacca has adhered to constantly through multiple states and governments since.
This short book, published as the situation in Cox’s Bazar exploded is a useful primer on the Rohingya situation. It provides a short historical overview before looking at the situation that the Rohingya in Myanmar faced in the run up to the crisis of 2017.
As I close this thread (at least for now) it seems fitting that we end with Azeem Ibrahim’s ‘The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide’ (New Delhi: Tiger, 2017), picked up on a whim at an airport bookstall in Chennai on my way to a short consultancy in Cox’s Bazar in 2018.
Habiburahman provides a compelling account of his life in Myanmar from the 1970s until 2000 when he fled Rakhine and then gives a fascinating insight into the life of an undocumented and often illegal migrant living on the margins of international society.
What is notable about most of the books I have referenced is the lack of Rohingya voices in the literature. A notable exception to this is Habiburahman’s ‘First They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks’ (Haryana: Penguin, 2018) initially written in French with Sophie Ansel in 2018.
This Indian focus is a bit frustrating given the relatively small number of Rohingya in India compared to Bangladesh or more recently Indonesia and Malaysia. 2/2
The South Asian perspective of the Rohingya crisis is the focus of ‘The Rohingya in South Asia: A people without a State’ (New Delhi: Routledge India, 2018) edited by Sabyasaichi Basu Ray Chaudhury and Ranabir Samaddar. This multi author academic book examines the crisis through an Indian lens.1/2
The book's backbone is 76 micro-narratives, a couple of pages each, which do an excellent job of giving voice to the Rohingya. It also includes the most extensive annotated bibliography of the Rohingya issue I have seen. The book is worthwhile reading for these two bits of scholarship alone. 3/3
The book addresses the Protection dilemma faced by Rohingya and identifies the vulnerability of Rohingya whether in Bangladesh or Rakhine. The analysis of the threats faced by the Rohingya is extensive, but it is frustrating that wider regional and global actors are not really addressed. 2/3
Perhaps the most academic book in the collection is Imtiaz Ahmed and Niloy Ranjan Biswas’ ‘Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh: The Violence-Protection Dialectic and the Narratives of Certain Unsafety/Uncertain Safety’ (Dhaka: Centre for Studies, University of Dhaka 2022). 1/3
