History

It was 1971. A vicious war had broken out in Bangladesh. Thousands joined the fight to free their motherland. But the war also needed officers to lead the thousands in battle. Bright young men, boys rather, were selected for a quick training to become officers at a remote pocket of West Bengal called Murti. Second lieutenants of the first war course would be the first batch of officers to be inducted into the Bangladesh army.

An Internal Matter tells the story of the many activists in America who supported the campaign for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. Shifting attention away from diplomatic figures, this work draws upon new evidence and interviews with participants to highlight the ordinary people who challenged the Nixon administration’s pro-Pakistan stance. From the shores of Manpura and the streets of Dhaka to American living rooms and the halls of Congress, this book injects a valuable dose of social history into international conversations about the war’s legacies.