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This Divided Island

This Divided Island

Stories From The Sri Lankan War

Samanth Subramanian
,
Subramanian Samanth
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In the summer of 2009, the leader of the dreaded Tamil Tiger guerrillas was killed, bringing to a bloody end the stubborn and complicated civil war in Sri Lanka. For nearly thirty years, the war’s fingers had reached everywhere: into the bustle of Colombo, the Buddhist monasteries scattered across the island, the soft hills of central Sri Lanka, the curves of the eastern coast near Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and the stark, hot north. With its genius for brutality, the war left few places, and fewer people, untouched.What happens to the texture of life in a country that endures such bitter conflict? What happens to the country’s soul? Samanth Subramanian gives us an extraordinary account of the Sri Lankan war and the lives it changed. Taking us to the ghosts of summers past, and to other battles from other times, he draws out the story of Sri Lanka today-an exhausted, disturbed society, still hot from the embers of the war. Through travels and conversations, he examines how people reconcile themselves to violence, how religion and state conspire, how the powerful become cruel, and how victory can be put to the task of reshaping memory and burying histories.This Divided Island is a harrowing and humane investigation of a country still inflamed.

Imprint: India Hamish Hamilton

Published: Jul/2014

ISBN: 9780143425472

Length : 336 Pages

MRP : ₹499.00

This Divided Island

Stories From The Sri Lankan War

Samanth Subramanian
,
Subramanian Samanth

In the summer of 2009, the leader of the dreaded Tamil Tiger guerrillas was killed, bringing to a bloody end the stubborn and complicated civil war in Sri Lanka. For nearly thirty years, the war’s fingers had reached everywhere: into the bustle of Colombo, the Buddhist monasteries scattered across the island, the soft hills of central Sri Lanka, the curves of the eastern coast near Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and the stark, hot north. With its genius for brutality, the war left few places, and fewer people, untouched.What happens to the texture of life in a country that endures such bitter conflict? What happens to the country’s soul? Samanth Subramanian gives us an extraordinary account of the Sri Lankan war and the lives it changed. Taking us to the ghosts of summers past, and to other battles from other times, he draws out the story of Sri Lanka today-an exhausted, disturbed society, still hot from the embers of the war. Through travels and conversations, he examines how people reconcile themselves to violence, how religion and state conspire, how the powerful become cruel, and how victory can be put to the task of reshaping memory and burying histories.This Divided Island is a harrowing and humane investigation of a country still inflamed.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback
Ebooks

Samanth Subramanian

By dint of both circumstance and choice, Samanth Subramanian is
a journalist. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism from
Pennsylvania State University and a Master's in international
relations from Columbia University. By preference, he gravitates
towards the long-form, narrative version of journalism-waning
today, but still rewarding and revealing to both writers and readers.
He has written, among other publications, for Mint, the Far Eastern
Economic Review
, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Foreign
Affairs
, The National and The Hindu. This is his first book.

Subramanian Samanth

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