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Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia
The two-hundred-year history of the United States' involvement in South Asia -- the key to understanding contemporary American policy in the region
South Asia looms large in American foreign policy. Over the past two decades, we have spent billions of dollars and thousands of human lives in the region, to seemingly little effect. As Srinath Raghavan reveals in Fierce Enigmas , this should not surprise us. For 230 years, America's engagement with India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been characterized by short-term thinking and unintended consequences. Beginning with American traders in India in the eighteenth century, the region has become a locus for American efforts -- secular and religious -- to remake the world in its image.
The definitive history of US involvement in South Asia, Fierce Enigmas is also a clarion call to fundamentally rethink our approach to the region.
South Asia looms large in American foreign policy. Over the past two decades, we have spent billions of dollars and thousands of human lives in the region, to seemingly little effect. As Srinath Raghavan reveals in Fierce Enigmas , this should not surprise us. For 230 years, America's engagement with India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been characterized by short-term thinking and unintended consequences. Beginning with American traders in India in the eighteenth century, the region has become a locus for American efforts -- secular and religious -- to remake the world in its image.
The definitive history of US involvement in South Asia, Fierce Enigmas is also a clarion call to fundamentally rethink our approach to the region.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published October 16, 2018
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602 people want to read
About the author
Srinath Raghavan
12 books114 followersSrinath Raghavan is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. He is also a senior research fellow at the India Institute at King’s College London. Srinath works on contemporary and historical aspects of India’s foreign and security policies.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 21, 2018
Do you doubt that a book on American foreign policy in South Asia can be a page turner and leave you breathless to see what happens next? I wouldn’t blame you because I would have doubted it was possible. Srinath Raghavan dispels all doubts! This is a fantastic book! In his acknowledgments, he credits Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman for providing a model for combining historical scholarship with commentary on contemporary international affairs, but is sure he has failed to live up to the master. I believe his teacher would be proud. Read this book and you will have the satisfaction of learning an encyclopedia of knowledge in prose that flows so brilliantly, it pulses with energy. Maximum stars!
November 27, 2020
This was somewhat of a dreary read for me. The book faithfully traces American economic, political, diplomatic and military presence in South Asia, in particular in India and to a lesser extent in Pakistan, right from the days of adventurism in the18th century to the Obama years.
Yet the narration is unimaginative and bland, making the tome a timeline of names, quotes and dates which easily blur in memory.
Overall it portrays rather a sordid tale of opportunism, doublespeak, racism in Western policy towards India, acrosd history, both formal and informal, regardless of whether the White House had a Blue President residing or Red. India's equivocation on more than one occasion also does not let us acquit ourselves too nobly in history especially post Independence. The chapters on the Cold War era in particular show the irrational hysteria that drove us inexorably towards the arguable moniker of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.
Yet to even a casual follower of Indo-American history not much new light is thrown. The author is meticulous as a historian yet less than engaging as author.
What was most disappointing personally for me was that the most recent history, that is the first decade of the twenty first century, which is still part of the 'present' and hence is most relevant yet still cloaked in secret because the dramatis personae are not dead and gone and have political clout, has been given only one chapter and no major investigation or disclosures that could help solving a few puzzles have been described.
At best, the book is a very meticulous piecing together of many facts from different sources, that can possibly be found online with some effort; interspersed with the some light commentary by the author.
Yet the narration is unimaginative and bland, making the tome a timeline of names, quotes and dates which easily blur in memory.
Overall it portrays rather a sordid tale of opportunism, doublespeak, racism in Western policy towards India, acrosd history, both formal and informal, regardless of whether the White House had a Blue President residing or Red. India's equivocation on more than one occasion also does not let us acquit ourselves too nobly in history especially post Independence. The chapters on the Cold War era in particular show the irrational hysteria that drove us inexorably towards the arguable moniker of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.
Yet to even a casual follower of Indo-American history not much new light is thrown. The author is meticulous as a historian yet less than engaging as author.
What was most disappointing personally for me was that the most recent history, that is the first decade of the twenty first century, which is still part of the 'present' and hence is most relevant yet still cloaked in secret because the dramatis personae are not dead and gone and have political clout, has been given only one chapter and no major investigation or disclosures that could help solving a few puzzles have been described.
At best, the book is a very meticulous piecing together of many facts from different sources, that can possibly be found online with some effort; interspersed with the some light commentary by the author.
April 29, 2019
Quite a page-turner of a book on how American foreign policy has impacted the Indian subcontinent over these past few centuries. Yes, you read it correctly - centuries, not mere decades! Starting from when United States, the first ship to visit India in 1784 to the entanglement of recent decades when terrorism, neo-liberalism, Nehruvianism and GDP growth mix in like a heady cocktail, echoing the apt title of the book - "Fierce Enigmas".
My Rating - 5/5
My Rating - 5/5
April 6, 2020
Nothing great, nothing miserable.
November 2, 2018
This is one of its kind book and a product of the excellent scholarship of the author Srinath Raghavan who happens to be one of India's most prominent contemporary historians and writers on strategic affairs. Although the title indicates that it is the history of the United States in South Asia, the region which consists of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, the book actually deals with the engagement of the US with respect to only the first three countries in this list who also happen to be the three countries with which the Americans have interacted the most in the region.
In a carefully described narrative built on meticulous research, the author describes the entire history of the US in the region from the days it was a new republic in the 18th century CE to the present era when it is the superpower in the world. How the racial and religious prejudices perpetrated by the American missionaries shaped the view of India in the eyes of the Americans exemplified by the notorious Indophobic book Mother India written by Katherine Mayo. These prejudices played a part in how the Americans interacted with India and Pakistan after 1947.
The book covers the foreign policy of every President from FDR to Obama with respect to the subcontinent and how the administrations of various Presidents interacted with the region. In a stunning but brutally honest assessment, the author notes that not a single American administration till now has dealt with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan with equal consistency. The book notes how the relations between India and the US have improved after the Cold War and particularly in the presidencies of Bush and Obama.
It is not just the political engagments that are discussed by the author. The cultural, economic, and social aspects to the engagement between the US and the Indian subcontinent are also discussed in detail by the author. Finally, the book ends by providing a brief introduction to the Trump Presidency and how President Trump might deal with the region which has been described by two of his predecessors, Clinton and Obama as "The Most Dangerous Place In The World".
In a carefully described narrative built on meticulous research, the author describes the entire history of the US in the region from the days it was a new republic in the 18th century CE to the present era when it is the superpower in the world. How the racial and religious prejudices perpetrated by the American missionaries shaped the view of India in the eyes of the Americans exemplified by the notorious Indophobic book Mother India written by Katherine Mayo. These prejudices played a part in how the Americans interacted with India and Pakistan after 1947.
The book covers the foreign policy of every President from FDR to Obama with respect to the subcontinent and how the administrations of various Presidents interacted with the region. In a stunning but brutally honest assessment, the author notes that not a single American administration till now has dealt with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan with equal consistency. The book notes how the relations between India and the US have improved after the Cold War and particularly in the presidencies of Bush and Obama.
It is not just the political engagments that are discussed by the author. The cultural, economic, and social aspects to the engagement between the US and the Indian subcontinent are also discussed in detail by the author. Finally, the book ends by providing a brief introduction to the Trump Presidency and how President Trump might deal with the region which has been described by two of his predecessors, Clinton and Obama as "The Most Dangerous Place In The World".
May 1, 2019
A magnum opus by one of our best military historians; this account of US relations with South Asia is a thorough exploration of the subject. The only problem lies in its India-centric focus, which means that apart from Pakistan and occasionally Afghanistan, the rest of South Asia is ignored. It also gallops though the last two decades rather quickly compared to the amount of time dwelt on in earlier periods.
March 27, 2025
I found the first 60 percent of the history (17th to early 20th century) engrossing because I knew very little about this period. If I were as ignorant about the US-South Asia relationship since the 1960s, I'd have enjoyed the book even more. What next? I'd love to go deeper into the first 60 percent part of this book.
May 17, 2020
The book is a great beginner's tool to understand US-India relations from the past to the present. The author is extremely articulate and precise in his approach. Overall, a great read.
January 12, 2021
A detailed and authoritative read explaining the complex history of Indo-American ties, this book delivers what it promises to.
January 2, 2021
Wow, this book was thorough. Thorough and interesting for the most part. There were a few areas I struggled to follow because of some of the development jargon. Otherwise, I found this book to be very helpful in giving me a full understanding of how the U.S.’ relationship with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan developed.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews