SRI LANKA:THE ARROGANCE OF POWER: Myths, Decadence & Murder

By Rajan Hoole

reviews:

Sri Lanka's Decades of Divide, Janaury 04, 2003, Lakshman Sabaratnam, EPW,

Hounded but Defiant, T N Gopalan, New Indpress,

RAJAN HOOLE'S 'SRI LANKA'
An impassioned indictment of terror

By Jeff Kingston, The Japan Times: July 14, 2002

Cover

In USA and other countries abroad you could purchase from the web site South Asia Books. Use the search facility with author's name or ISBN no. Sri Lanka: The Arrogance of Power: Myths, Decadence and Murder.pa. Author(s): Hoole, Rajan. ISBN: 9559447041. Edition: 1. Pages: 504. Binding: TP. Pub.Date: 02052001. Summary: Major new work on violence, ideology, recent political history of Sri Lanka. on Indian role, nature of Tamil unrest a thoughtful, creative overview, strongly recommended. List Price: $32.00

Written by a co-author of The Broken Palmyra, the focus of which was inwards - within Tamil society - the present volume examines primarily the Sri Lankan State. Sri Lanka: The Arrogance of Power - Myths, Decadence and Murder is the story of how the State, its ideology and inherent violence spawned the LTTE as its mirror image, a violently obscurantist JVP within Sinhalese society itself, and continues to suffocate in that legacy.

The book traces the connections between major events in post-independence Sri Lanka. It elucidates crucial aspects of the 1977 violence that have been papered over. The central sections deal with the July 1983 holocaust and the Welikade prison massacres that still form an elusive watershed in this country's political history. Both published and unpublished materials have been collated in giving an account of the JVP insurgency of 1987-90. A key chapter deals with the dirty war of the mid-1980s, where the UNP government's attempt at demographic transformation, with covert Western and Israeli assistance, plunged the crisis to a point of no return and irrevocably internationalised it. Other chapters deal with demoralisation in the security forces, political assassinations and the fascist drift among Tamils. A final chapter tackles the question of peace. Although written for the general reader wanting to probe below official and partisan obfuscation, the student of contemporary Sri Lanka will find the book compulsory reading.] 500p.

Published by University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka.

For local purchases in Sri Lanka:

At Rs. 800/- per copy, the book is priced at the lowest compatible with covering production costs. Its available for sale at study institutes and booksellers in Colombo. You could purchase from the following places:

RCCG Book Center, 66, Dutugamunu Street, Kohuwala, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka ( e-mail torccg@slt.lk),

Suriya Book Shop, SSA, 425/15, Thimbrigasaya Rd, Colombo 5

Barefoot, Galle Road, Colombo 3

Book Land, 432, Galle Road, Colombo 3

ICESNo.8, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8

Marga Institute, 91/10,Dutugamunu Street, Kohuwala, Dehiwala

In this web site you could view thecontent page.ForwardandChapter1,2,4,9&10have been uploaded.19th October 2001]

• Broken Palmyra: co-authored by Dr.Rajan Hoole, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, Dr. D.Somasundaram & Dr. K. Sritharan was published in 1988. Its an inside account about the Tamil struggle. (cover,back cover)