American Raj
War at the Top of the World
The gulf between the Moslem world and Western interests and has served to fuel endless discussion across the globe. Each new confrontation or peace initiative is accompanied in short order by a plethora of criticism, punditry, and paranoia that serves mainly to widen the differences between two cultures and to dampen all aspirations for building greater understanding between the peoples most affected.
American Raj: Liberation or Domination? appeals to both communities with an in-depth look at the causes of mistrust that exist between the West and Moslem nations, and finds some rare optimism for improving relations between them. Centuries of human contact have left behind a legacy of conflict and cultural domination that remains deeply ingrained in popular consciousness. Despite so many shared values that exist between the two communities, a continuation of this legacy has come to be seen as inevitable.
Margolis writes from the perspective of individuals on both sides of the divide whose ideas about each other are guided less by personal experience than by the cultural environments in which they live. American Raj is a story that is both comprehensive in scope, yet very accessible to readers who want to learn more about the challenges faced by two cultures and the opportunities for better relations that are open to them.
He combines an extensively researched historical context with the human dimensions of conflicts that have arisen within our own lifespan, and guides the reader through the complex web of events that have led to the present day. As a journalist with many years of experience in the regions covered, Margolis transforms a topic that is often confusing to the ordinary reader into a meaningful journey through one of the most compelling issues of our time.
In his first book about international politics, War at the Top of the World presents a history of the complicated and volatile conflicts that entangle one of the most beautiful and remote parts of the world. The book plays witness to the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan over the isolated and contested territories of Kashmir and Ladakh, an age-old dispute that threatens to transform their arms race from a regional concern into an alarming global crisis.
Eric Margolis traces this struggle along with the conflicts in neighboring Afghanistan and Tibet, back to their Cold War roots, combining vivid first-hand accounts as a war correspondent together with a historical and strategic overview of the region. He offers a clear, concise analysis about the geopolitical complexities of the area and the key players in a complicated and little-understood part of the world that is home to a quarter of the world's population. Fascinating and indispensable, War at the Top of the World is an extraordinary read for anyone interested in the current global balance of power.
Gilbert Taylor writes in Booklist: "Having reported for years from the Khyber Pass and the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges, journalist Margolis here distils his experience with the geopolitics of this forbidding region. To outsiders, it might seem perplexing that Pakistan, India, and China should have fought wars over uninhabitable mountains, a bewilderment Margolis dispels by explaining the stakes in Kashmir and Tibet as viewed from Islamabad, New Delhi, and Beijing. It may seem bizarre that the battlefield, at 16,000 feet of elevation, is on the Siachen Glacier, where hypoxic, frostbitten Indians and Pakistanis regularly lob shells at each other. The author's explanation makes it more understandable strategically, for he who controls the glacier controls the only Pakistan-China road. Convinced that Hindu-Muslim animosities will again erupt in war, Margolis describes the tension between China and India, played out in their nascent nuclear and naval arms races. Combining vignettes of his travels (including to Lhasa) with strategic summaries, Margolis usefully draws attention to hot spots some believe are the most likely to set off a nuclear war. "
Founder of the International School newspaper, Alexandre, Eric Margolis continued in the field of journalism as a syndicated columnist, writing for the Toronto Sun Media Group. He is Contributing Foreign Editor of the Toronto Sun newspapers and a syndicated columnist whose articles are published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and many other newspapers. He appears regularly on popular news broadcast programmes including Good Morning America, CBS News, CNN, ABC and WNET.
