Lost in History
1984 Reconstructed provides a comprehensive, nuanced and accessible account of recent human rights violations in Punjab, especially during the last quarter of the 20th century. The book engages with primary source material and eyewitness accounts, and serves as an excellent reference book for modern Sikh issue.
“Gunisha Kaur’s Lost in History 1984 Reconstructed is a heartfelt and brave witness to one of the great scenes of human cruelty in the 20th century – the widescale torture and slaughter of the Sikhs in Punjab. Little-known to those not tracking human rights abuses, this story is clearly and passionately told by a young woman who documents on behalf of her people and all humanity. The clarity and strength of her vision are compelling.”
Dr. Diane Christian
SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor
Author of Blood Sacrifice and The Priesthood of Death
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“In 1984, India launched a full scale army invasion of the Golden Temple and many Sikh places of worship across Punjab in northwest India, suspended all legal safeguards, and transformed the villages of Punjab into killing fields with no accounting of the dead and the maimed. Human rights organizations were and continue to be denied access to conduct honest inquiry...
Gunisha’s voice is fresh, her writing sensitive. It has an overwhelming sadness about 1984 but it is not without hope. Hope can flourish only if the record does not get lost in the contrived passages and cunning corridors of history.
In the face of overwhelming trauma all that any citizen can do is not to cease thinking and not to hold one’s tongue. This Gunisha has done most effectively and admirably.”
Dr. I.J. Singh
New York University
Author of The Sikh Way: A Pilgrim’s Progress,
Sikhs & Sikhism: A View with a Bias and Being and Becoming a Sikh