The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

About this book

A landmark study that offers an alternative history of the Cold War from the point of view of the worlds poor. "Europe" is morally spiritually indefensible. And today the indictment is brought against it…by tens and tens of thousands of millions of men who from the depths of slavery set themselves up as judges.Aim Csaire Discourse on Colonialism Here from a brilliant young writer is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movementthe idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the twentieth century attempt to knit together the worlds impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II. Spanning every continent of the global South Vijay Prashads fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like Indias Nehru Egypts Nasser and Indonesias Sukarnoas well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals artists and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World whose demise Prashad ultimately argues has produced a much impoverished international political arena. 12 b/w photographs.