Fifty Years of Reporting South Asia
A collection of some of the best reporting and photographs by foreign correspondents stationed in South Asia between 1958 and 2008, issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia.
“It has been said that journalism is “the first draft of history” – incomplete, momentary, often opinionated, but history-in-the-making nonetheless. We hope that this illustrated anthology of great reportage, analysis, writing – and stories that just demand your attention – will be seen as such a ‘draft report’, complementing other non-fiction books. We have tried to show the range of what we write about, from politics to tigers, from business to inequality, from religious fanaticism to fans of P.G.Wodehouse,” from the Foreword to the book.
Reviews.
“A primer on some of the most important events in the past 50 years and tragicomic insights into the people of the subcontinent… left me wanting more.” Melissa Bell, Mint
“It provides an immediacy that is rarely found in history books … Some things don’t change: Immediacy, accuracy, and plain old reporting. And that’s what the stories in the Foreign Correspondent deliver with a gentle punch.” Debyani Ray, DNA
“Reading the dispatches is like travelling on a historical time machine to relive the dark days of the Indian Emergency, the horrific disaster that forever changed the Bhopal dateline, the pogrom in Gujarat, and the devastating tsunami depicted through the incredible story of the survival of one school in eastern Sri Lanka. The book shows us in hindsight how little we have learnt from history, and how we seem to be cursed to repeat it,” Kunda Dixit, Himal
“How does one describe the book? I wanted to call it a romp, but that’s trivialising the content and demeaning to the correspondents. A journey? Perhaps that’s a better word, but doesn’t quite do the collection justice. I don’t have a word, at the moment, which works better than journey. Time machine? Not good enough, but it’ll suffice…
What was the book, to me? Romp? Journey? I’ve read the book in one, long, nonstop session. Therapy.” Anant Rangaswami, Campaign India.
Fear Rules in Nepal’s Maoist Heartland, by Simon Denyer, Reuters, March 2005.
