Synopses & Reviews
A landmark study that offers an alternative history of the Cold War from the point of view of the world's poor.'"Europe" is morally, spiritually indefensible. And today the indictment is brought against it
by tens and tens of thousands of millions of men who, from the depths of slavery, set themselves up as judges.'Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism
Here, from a brilliant young writer, is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movementthe idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the twentieth century attempt to knit together the world's impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II.
Spanning every continent of the global South, Vijay Prashad's fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship, it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, and Indonesia's Sukarnoas well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals, artists, and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World, whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced a much impoverished international political arena. 12 b/w photographs.
Synopsis
The landmark alternative history of the Cold War from the perspective of the Global South, reissued in paperback with a new introduction by the author In this award-winning investigation into the overlooked history of the Third World--with a new preface by the author for its fifteenth anniversary--internationally renowned historian Vijay Prashad conjures what Publishers Weekly calls "a vital assertion of an alternative future." The Darker Nations, praised by critics as a welcome antidote to apologists for empire, has defined for a generation of scholars, activists, and dreamers what it is to imagine a more just international order and continues to offer lessons for the radical political projects of today.
With the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rise of India and China on the global scene, this paradigm-shifting book of groundbreaking scholarship helps us envision the future of the Global South by restoring to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced an impoverished and asymmetrical international political arena. No other book on the Third World--as a utopian idea and a global movement--can speak so effectively and engagingly to our troubled times.
About the Author
Vijay Prashad's previous books include The Karma of Brown Folk and Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting. He is on the board of the Center for Third World Organizing and a co-founder of the Forum of Indian Leftists. He teaches at Trinity College, Connecticut, and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.