The Architecture of Exile: Kenan Orhan’s The Renovation
What happens when the home that an exile has built in a foreign land suddenly opens onto…
Book Review
Read MoreThe Architecture of Exile: Kenan Orhan’s The Renovation
A Novel of Love, Life and Human Relationships: A Review of Pearl S. Buck’s Letter from Peking
There are many novels in the world, but only a few create the feeling that we have actually lived with their characters. Letter from Peking by Pearl S. Buck gave me that feeling. I could see the characters, hear their conversations and imagine the places described by the author. Some scenes remain in my mind almost like scenes from a film. Reading it was, in many ways, like watching a beautiful cinema made with words.
Book Review: The Elephant, The Tiger and The Cellphone (2007) by Shashi Tharoor
This book is concerned about poverty, illiteracy, regional imbalance, class inequality, caste hierarchy, patriarchy, majoritarianism, cricket, books, movies and paintings. The book tries to capture the paradoxical nature of India in an optimistic way. One of its best features is its unconditional support for religious pluralism.
A short history of the Gaza Strip takes a long view of today’s conflict
To understand the history of a place you have to go back to the start. For the Gaza Strip that start is the naqbah. Nothing that happened subsequently – from the 1950s to the 2020s – can be understood without it.
The Political Marx: A Review
In today’s world, when capitalism, flawless global technological surveillance, years of war and continuous genocide, violent finance capital, and the use of the state machinery are exploiting the working class, peasants, and labouring people in ever newer ways—at such a difficult time it is imperative to reread Marx’s political writings anew.
Tenderness and brutality collide in the abject world of Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s Bugger
With the stench of shit and damp clothes that smell of popcorn and vomit, with descriptions of bulging eyes and “sob-mucus” and sandwiches chewed with an open mouth, Ahmad builds a world able to hold the worst of acts.
The Black Book: A Review
One of the key legacies of The Black Book is its emphasis on the lived experiences of ordinary African Americans. By including a wide range of materials, from the mundane to the extraordinary, the book presents a more complete and honest portrayal of Black life in America.
Book Reading: Irfan Engineer’s Weaponisation of Hindu Festivals
Violence is deeply casteist where high caste Hindus remain behind the curtains while middle castes and even Dalits are used as fodder against the religious minorities, especially, Muslims and Christians.
Avi Shlaim’s Genocide in Gaza: A Review
Shlaim’s core argument is that Gaza’s suffering—especially after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and Israel’s brutal response (Operation Swords of Iron)— is no accident. He sees Zionism as a settler-colonial project, echoing scholar Patrick Wolfe’s idea that “invasion is a structure, not an event.” Gaza’s blockade since 2007, the repeated bombings Israel calls “mowing the lawn,” and the staggering toll— over 40,000 deaths by mid-2024, mostly women and children— aren’t just security measures but steps toward elimination.
Book Reading Session: Mushirul Hasan’s A Moral Reckoning
On 6th September 2025, Free Voice organised a reading session. The book chosen was A Moral Reckoning: Muslim Intellectuals in Nineteenth century Delhi (2005, OUP) by Mushirul Hasan. The session was proposed by budding sociologist Zeeshan Husain, an admirer of Hasan’s work since his college days. The session aimed to introduce this important work to young readers and encourage them to read it whenever they could.