View source for Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War

{{Short description|Widely-discredited book by Sarmila Bose}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox book <!-- See Bharatpedia:WikiProject_Novels or Bharatpedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = '''Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War'''
| image        = DEAD RECKONING.jpg
| author       = [[Sarmila Bose]]
| cover_artist = 
| country      = United States
| language     = English
| genre        = History
| publisher    = [[C. Hurst & Co.]]
| release_date = 1 April 2011
| media_type   = Print (hardback and paperback)
| pages        = 288
| isbn =  978-1849040495
| dewey        =
| congress     =
| oclc         =
| preceded_by  =
| followed_by  =
}}

'''''Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War''''' is a controversial book on the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] written by [[Sarmila Bose]].<ref name=LawsonControversial>{{cite news|last=Lawson|first=Alastair|title=Controversial book accuses Bengalis of 1971 war crimes|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13417170|accessdate=30 December 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=16 June 2011|archive-date=8 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708083223/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13417170|url-status=live}}</ref> The book has been accused of flawed and biased methodology, [[Historical revisionism (negationism)|historical negationism]] and downplaying [[1971 Bangladesh atrocities|genocide]].<ref name="BadrulBadArithmetic">{{cite news |last=Ahsan |first=Syed Badrul |author-link=Syed Badrul Ahsan |date=13 July 2011 |title=Sarmila Bose and bad arithmetic |newspaper=The Daily Star |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=193941 |url-status=live |accessdate=21 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063232/http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=193941 |archive-date=4 March 2022}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Naeem Mohaiemen, "Flying Blind: Waiting for a real Reckoning on 1971", Economic & Political Weekly, vol xlvi no 36, 3 September 2011|url=http://www.bricklanecircle.org/uploads/Flying_Blind.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051119/http://www.bricklanecircle.org/uploads/Flying_Blind.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2012|access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Sarmila Bose, "‘Dead Reckoning’: A Response"; Naeem Mohaiemen, "Another Reckoning"; Economic & Political Weekly, vol xlvi no 53, 31 December 2011.|url=http://www.bricklanecircle.org/uploads/Bose_and_Naeem.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723022728/http://www.bricklanecircle.org/uploads/Bose_and_Naeem.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2013|access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref><ref name="DailyStarThoughts">{{cite news|last=Zeitlin|first=Arnold|date=17 November 2013|title=Thoughts on Dead Reckoning|newspaper=The Daily Star|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-214413|accessdate=16 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=debunking>Mohammed Parvez Imdad, [https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/perspective/debunking-boses-myths-1553248.html Debunking Bose's Myths], The Daily Star, 26 March 2018</ref>

== Overview ==
Bose aims for a revisionist reconstruction of the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] in a chronological fashion using material evidence as well as public memory.<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last1=Bose|first1=Sarmila|date=9 May 2011|title=Myth-busting the Bangladesh war of 1971|work=Opinion|publisher=[[Aljazeera]]|agency=[[Aljazeera]]|issue=1|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115983958114219.html|url-status=live|accessdate=3 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605231254/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115983958114219.html|archive-date=5 June 2022}}</ref> This was to counter the prevailing multitude of poor and partisan scholarship on the issue, and Bose claimed that hers will be a unique work for years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="ButaliaTehelka">{{cite news|last=Butalia|first=Urvashi|date=13 August 2011|title=She Does Not Know Best|newspaper=Tehelka|url=http://www.tehelka.com/she-does-not-know-best/|url-status=dead|accessdate=21 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718204115/http://www.tehelka.com/she-does-not-know-best/|archive-date=18 July 2022}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news|last=Subramanian|first=Nirupama|date=2011-09-27|title=1971: a different history|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/1971-a-different-history/article2488077.ece|access-date=2021-03-21|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> 

She notes the war to have had its origins in a xenophobic and communal expressions of Bengali nationalism.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Raghavan|first=Srinath|date=30 July 2011|title=A Dhaka Debacle: A disturbing misrepresentation of the 1971 war.|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/a-dhaka-debacle/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418181426/http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/a-dhaka-debacle/|archive-date=18 April 2018|access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref> Military operations by Pakistani Army were mostly political reprisals and started in response to provocations by Mujib's movement which engaged in violence despite Yahya Khan's efforts to restore democracy.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="DailyStarThoughts" /> In the process, Bose also seeks to prove that the death-count portrayed by Bangladesh is often unreliable and aimed at distorting the truth about the nature and number of war-crimes.<ref name=":2" />

==Reception==
Scholars have accused her of flawed and biased methodology, [[historical revisionism]]. cherry-picking sources, and downplaying [[1971 Bangladesh atrocities|war crimes]].

=== Positive reviews ===
[[Martin Woollacott]], the foreign correspondent of [[The Guardian]], found it to be a long-overdue study which exonerated the Pakistani Government of planning to rule Bangladesh (East Pakistan) by force and stood to provoke "fresh research and fresh thinking".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-07-01|title=Dead Reckoning by Sarmila Bose - review|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/01/dead-reckoning-sarmila-bose-review|access-date=2021-03-21|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> Atul Mishra, an Assistant Professor in [[international relations]] at the [[Central University of Gujarat]], reviewing for Contemporary South Asia, found the work to be "soundly conceptualized and professional", and an ideal read for doctoral students.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mishra|first=Atul|date=2013-02-18|title=Dead reckoning: memories of the 1971 Bangladesh war|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09584935.2012.758473|journal=Contemporary South Asia|language=en|doi=10.1080/09584935.2012.758473|issn=0958-4935}}</ref>

==== Pakistan ====
The book was subject to positive reception in Pakistan.<ref name="ExpressReading">{{cite news|last=Zia|first=Afia|date=12 January 2012|title=Reading and writing 1971|newspaper=The Express Tribune|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/319980/reading-and-writing-1971/|url-status=live|accessdate=20 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222140127/http://tribune.com.pk/story/319980/reading-and-writing-1971/|archive-date=22 December 2022}}</ref>

=== Negative reviews ===
Chaity Das, reviewing over Journal of South Asian Development, found the book to be an exercise in "glossy revisionism"; failing to see beyond the number of casualties, Bose engaged in an opportunistic and inconsistent pitting of memory against memory to discredit the narratives of victims and exonerate the Pakistan Army.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Das |first=Chaity |date=2013-04-01 |title=Book Reviews: Sarmila Bose. 2011. Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0973174113477014 |journal=Journal of South Asian Development |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=136–138 |doi=10.1177/0973174113477014 |issn=0973-1741}}</ref> Arnold Zeitlin, a journalist who had covered the '71 war, argued the monograph to be a "distortion of history" that carried the author's prejudices and had an idiosyncratic emphasis upon getting an accurate number of casualties, whilst refusing to tackle the underlying themes and issues surrounding the event.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book Event: Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War {{!}} Wilson Center|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/book-event-dead-reckoning-memories-the-1971-bangladesh-war|access-date=2021-03-21|website=www.wilsoncenter.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War; Book review|url=http://southasiajournal.net/dead-reckoning-memories-of-the-1971-bangladesh-war-book-review/|access-date=2021-03-21|website=South Asia Journal|language=en-US}}</ref>  [[Gita Sahgal]], writing for [[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|''The Daily Star'']], expressed similar concerns; lacking in any theoretical or political framework and engaging in a selective usage of sources, Bose only served to adulate the Pakistan Military.<ref name="SahgalDisappearing">{{cite news |last=Sahgal |first=Gita |date=18 December 2011 |title=Dead Reckoning: Disappearing stories and evidence |newspaper=The Daily Star |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=214510 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020080034/http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=214510 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |accessdate=19 December 2022}}</ref> Several issues — [[Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan|Jamaat-e-Islami]], [[Al-Badr (East Pakistan)|Al-Badr]] etc. — that would have proved inconvenient for her central thesis, were skipped.<ref name="SahgalDisappearing" /> Likewise, [[Jayanta Kumar Ray]] claims bias in Bose's extensive usage of pro-Pakistan sources and accuses her of getting "basic facts wrong" in counting of rapes.<ref name="BhaumikBook">{{cite news|last=Bhaumik|first=Subir|date=29 April 2011|title=Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis|newspaper=aljazeera|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/04/2011429174141565122.html|url-status=live|accessdate=21 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140130073332/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/04/2011429174141565122.html|archive-date=30 January 2022}}</ref>

[[Urvashi Butalia]], a feminist historian of memory, reviewing for ''[[Tehelka]]'', noted the work to be spoiled by her "hubris and irrational biases"; Bose exonerated Pakistani officers of mass-rape and wanton violence by taking their accounts as "straightforward" truth but labeled all Bangladeshi accounts as "claims".<ref name="ButaliaTehelka" /> A review in ''[[The Hindu]]'' found the book to have created a moral equivalence between the oppressors and oppressed — her work had evident bias in the manner she conducted much rigorous interviews of relevant Bangladeshi figures than their Pakistani counterparts and deemed the ethnic attitude of Bengalis to lie at the root of all issues.<ref name=":5" /> [[Nayanika Mookherjee]], a social anthropologist studying memories of '71 wartime rapes, found the book to be methodologically inconsistent, informed by a disdain for Bangladeshi Self Determination — to Bose, Bangladeshis were guided by blind hate against the "fine men" of Pakistan army who had "no ethnic bias" and they either exhibited "bestial" violence or were "cowards".<ref name=":4">{{cite news|last=Mookherjee|first=Nayanika|date=7 June 2011|title=This account of the Bangladesh war should not be seen as unbiased|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/08/bangladesh-liberation-war-sarmila-bose|url-status=live|accessdate=19 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228012613/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/08/bangladesh-liberation-war-sarmila-bose|archive-date=28 December 2022}}</ref> She also criticizes Bose for failing to cite post-nationalist scholarship in vernacular, which discussed the role of Bengali Muslims in killing [[Razakar (Pakistan)|Bihari/non-Bengali collaborators and communities]].<ref name=":4" />

[[Srinath Raghavan]], an Indian historian of [[contemporary history]], reviewing for ''[[The Indian Express]]'' characterized Bose's work to be a "disturbing misrepresentation of the 1971 war" — "it [was] impossible to review the entire catalogue of evasions, obfuscations, omissions and methodological errors".<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=MOHAIEMEN|first=NAEEM|date=2011|title=Flying Blind: Waiting for a Real Reckoning on 1971|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41719936|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=46|issue=36|pages=40–52|issn=0012-9976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singh|first=Priyanka|date=2012|title=Bose Sarmila, Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War, London: Hurst & Company, 2011, 239 pp. £19.00 (pbk), £42.75 (hbk)|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2012.00557_5.x|journal=Nations and Nationalism|language=en|volume=18|issue=3|pages=554–555|doi=10.1111/j.1469-8129.2012.00557_5.x|issn=1469-8129}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=South Asia Book Talk Series • The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute|url=https://mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/event/south-asia-book-talk-series-2/|access-date=2021-03-21|website=The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute|language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Response ====
Bose has responded to [[Naeem Mohaiemen]] and others in [[Economic and Political Weekly|''The Economic and Political Weekly'']].<ref name="DRResponse">{{cite journal|last=Bose|first=Sarmila|date=31 December 2011|title='Dead Reckoning': A Response|url=https://www.academia.edu/1190472/Debating_Sarmila_Bose_2_Bose_responds_Mohaiemen_rejoinder|journal=Economic & Political Weekly|volume=46|issue=53|pages=76–79|accessdate=19 March 2022}}</ref> She maintains that her research is unbiased and the critics were only "those who [had] profited for so long from mythologizing the history of 1971."<ref name=":2" /><ref name="DRResponse" /> 

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13417170 Dead Reckoning and its critics]
* [http://www.epw.in/authors/naeem-mohaiemen Naeem Mohaimen critiques Dead Reckoning in EPW]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/08/bangladesh-liberation-war-sarmila-bose Nayanika Mookherjee in The Guardian on Sarmila Bose and the Bangladesh War]

==External links==
* [http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/dead-reckoning/ Publisher's web page on the book]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1971 Bangladesh genocide]]
[[Category:Aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:History books about Bangladesh]]
[[Category:2011 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:C. Hurst & Co. books]]