The McMahon Line: A Century of Discord by J.J. SinghMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
An authoritative, but not pedantic, account of the historical evolution of the McMahon Line on India’s north-eastern border. The history of Tibet in indeed comprehensive. But the book needed better graphics and clearer maps to clarify the mystifying geography of the mountainous region – Google maps was more valuable. For old maps I found this site to be very useful: https://www.davidrumsey.com/.
The book could also do with a good editor to remove not only linguistic eggcorns like "tow the line", but also irritatingly frequent repetitions or certain incidents and extracts. The ending was too verbose without any clear-cut strategic answers – the author also seems to have been lulled into complacence by the rousing reception he received during his visit to Beijing. Ironically, he accuses of his predecessors, bureaucrats and their political masters, including Nehru, of being seduced by the Hindi Chini Bhai Bha rhetoric and remaining in a state of denial and ignorance of the evil designs of the Chinese before the ’62 conflict.
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