Haunted by Fire

Book excerpt: ""This book is an amazing archive of people's struggles and a rich documenting of public debates during a critical moment in our recent and lived history. It brings the 1960s and 70s in Tamil Nadu back to us in ways that we have almost lost today. Ever responsive to the questions being raised from the ground, Mythily's own position was shaped by her understanding of protesting peasants, dalits and the most marginalized in society. We know so little of how women ideologues of the left movement shaped the analysis and interventions of their organizations, so this book serves to remind us about that too. A remarkable collection."" --- Uma Chakravarti, author of Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai//Mythily Sivaraman''s essays range from agrarian unrest, caste oppression, land, labour and wages, the centrality of class struggle, the early promise of change, the radical course of left struggles, the coercive apparatus of the state, issues of impunity, and the way the Emergency worked out on the ground.//Mythili Sivaraman's unconventional genre of writing operates at two levels. One of these offers vivid personal accounts of socio-political issues she has been involved with; the other offers an intellectual approach to established socio-political norms. Thus, on both counts the book seeks to fill a void in the written history of the Tamil Nadu. -- The Hindu//This book is a must-read for all students of caste, class and politics and Tamil Nadu and could pave the way for more such works from the women ideologues and workers of the Left movement in Tamil Nadu who are behind many a struggle in the state. - Economic and Political Weekly