Revolutionary Pamphlets, Propaganda and Political Culture in Colonial Bengal
Cambridge University Press
Edition: First Edition, 10/16/2014
EAN 9781107065468, ISBN10: 1107065461
Hardcover, 219 pages, 23.1 x 16 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Pamphlets have usually been regarded as ephemeral literature with little permanent impact. This work demonstrates the historical value of this genre of political literature. The propaganda pamphlets help historians place a finger on the pulse of an extraordinarily important historical period when new ideas concerning the nation-state, the rights of the governed and forms of political protest complicated the political scene and opened up new fronts of conflict between the colonial state and the colonized subjects. This study devises innovative approaches to reading these pamphlets and generates new insights into the world of the pamphleteers thus providing the readers with a more nuanced understanding of the politics and political culture of early twentieth-century Bengal. In the process, the book makes an important contribution to the historical controversies that the politics of this period has generated among scholars of Indian nationalism.
Abbreviations
Glossary
Preface
Introduction
1. The origins of an idea, 1905–18
2. The signs of the times
constructing a nation
3. Legitimizing violence
4. The battle for domination
state repression of revolutionary pamphlets
5. Summing up
an identity forged in battle
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.