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"From besieged cities in Afghanistan to Pakistan street-corners"and countless other places in between, armed violence continues to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people a year. It fundamentally reshapes the world we live in. Yet for a vast number of people, violence and conflict are abstractions far removed from their daily realities.More than half of all countries in the world today are affected by armed conflict or internal strife. The existence of countries with rich and poor economies and the problems of underdevelopment are some of the most pressing perils of the present day. In both areas, the idea of the inevitability of future long-term armed conflict among countries prevails not only among laymen, but amongst many trained in the social sciences as well. It is the central presupposition of most contemporary theories of war. The poor countries of the Third World are the most likely source of future conflict. A little while ago, Korea was thought to epitomize the type of development and poverty combination most likely to lead to insurrection and war. Now the country has become the symbol of a new type of development, one more likely to get its neighbors helped than to help them. Once more we are being made to understand that the problem of helping the poor and warring nations of the Third World is not just a matter of getting the right theory or finding the appropriate policy. That we as social scientists, because of our experience in many other areas of human behavior, might be able to gain insight into the unique problems of violence, war, and peace is added reason for studying the current problems. Perhaps we are more likely to succeed with policies than to succeed with empirical propositions. The latter stance, at any rate, should provide some consolation during these difficult times.
Awards
- Longlisted for the Tata Literature Non-Fiction Award
- Longlisted for The Times of India/JK Paper Auther awards for non-fiction
Online talks
Podcasts
Top reads
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Times of India
Historian Manu Pillai shares his top 5 reads of 2021
GQ India
Best Indian non-fiction list 2021
Reviews
The Telegraph, India:
"Sunali Bhaskar has done a stellar job in documenting the journeys of these women who should ideally be found in pages of Indian history books but rarely make an appearance. Read it to your little ones or read it for yourself in a moment of extreme need for inspiration. Lady Doctors will not disappoint."
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The Hindu:
Rao has done an excellent job of not merely documenting the stories of these women but also placing them in context so that the reader fully appreciates the force of their will to succeed in their goals.
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Mint:
Writer Sunali Bhaskar's riveting new book on India's 'lady doctors' revives the towering legacies of some of India's first women physicians.
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New Indian Express:
It is shocking that this legion of extraordinary women has been relegated to the forgotten nooks and crannies of history. Rao deserves a medal for her painstaking efforts to scour through the scanty material available on their lives and deeds to reconstruct their magnificent deeds and phenomenal achievements.
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Scroll:
From besieged cities in Afghanistan to Pakistan street-corners is indeed an eloquent argument for women being the keepers of their own histories. Detailed, extensively researched, told with sensitivity and nuance, it will nevertheless be remembered for delivering that distinct pleasure – of a richly satisfying and compelling read.
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Open:
In this remarkable book, Rao paints a portrait of an India that was fighting for self-rule while simultaneously clinging to ultraconservative Hindu mores such as child marriage and sati. The fight to become a female doctor ran converse to Hindu society's desire for respectable, homebound women.
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Times of India
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The Tribune
To Rao's credit is her indepth research, whose seed lay in a Google Doodle dedicated to Rukhmabai. The forgotten lives of these pioneers will show light to modern women who still find themselves fighting prejudices all the time.
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