Tomasz Jefferson Book

I read this book a few years after its initial publication, and decided to re-read it a month ago. The first time I read it, I was enthralled because of the insight into the mindset of the Sikh militancy, which was paradoxically beautiful, mostly unified and inspiring. You simply didn't get this sort of content anywhere back then, and for the most part, you still don't.

I believe that my excitement over this elusive information overshadowed at least one major deficiency in the book. The author, an ethnographic anthropologist, spends quite a bit of time talking about her academic discipline and its various theories. That's fine -- this is an academic book, after all.

However, I believe she allowed her integrity to be compromised to a certain but significant degree. There are a number of potential factors: fear of being viewed as sympathetic, or even objective towards a group of people that most call "terrorists" mostly due to propaganda; her own issues and experience with violence in her life (she talks about it briefly in the book); etc.

I don't profess to know which one, but the symptoms litter the book. In fact after two chapters I grabbed a highlighter and marked in the margins where I saw these symptoms. Let's just say I haven't highlighted that much since my undergrad days. When she has something positive to say about the Sikh militancy (and often Sikhs in general), it is generally somewhat curt and almost always qualified. When she has something negative to say, she seems to dwell on it longer than it needs to be, and often lacks any sort of footnotes. She also contradicts herself on a regular basis, and most times it is because she appears to be trying to please her academic colleagues.

Unfortunately, this deficiency is a critical one.

Despite this, I urge Sikhs to read it. I think that one thing that will startle you is how much propaganda there is about Bhindranwale, even among Sikhs. I say that because you will learn that, per the evidence out there, Bhindranwale did virtually nothing wrong but love his people -- quite literally -- to death. You will also learn that even in this book, where the author unfortunately shows a strong bias, evidence of violence towards innocent people is scarce.

So again, if you're a Sikh or want to learn more about a tragically overlooked incident in world history, check this book out.

One final note -- I recently read a more recent book by the author about the role of women in Sikhism. In the introduction, she complains about the heartbreak caused to her by the lack of any serious feedback or communication from the Sikh community after the publication of "Fighting for Faith and Nation."

I suspect that most of the people she speaks of agree with me.

4.5/10 *** but, a must-read for Sikhs despite this rating