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On the Grand Trunk Road
In this stirring travelogue, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter journeys through the tumultuous nations of South Asia--India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan. This is a land where the 10th and 20th centuries uneasily intermix--and often explode.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Steve Coll
16 books936 followersSteve Coll is President & CEO of New America Foundation, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. Previously he spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent and senior editor at The Washington Post, serving as the paper's managing editor from 1998 to 2004.
He is author six books, including The Deal of the Century: The Break Up of AT&T (1986); The Taking of Getty Oil (1987); Eagle on the Street, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the SEC's battle with Wall Street (with David A. Vise, 1991); On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia (1994), Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004); and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008).
Mr. Coll's professional awards include two Pulitzer Prizes. He won the first of these, for explanatory journalism, in 1990, for his series, with David A. Vise, about the SEC. His second was awarded in 2005, for his book, Ghost Wars, which also won the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross award; the Overseas Press Club award and the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book published on international affairs during 2004. Other awards include the 1992 Livingston Award for outstanding foreign reporting; the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for his coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone; and a second Overseas Press Club Award for international magazine writing.
Mr. Coll graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude, from Occidental College in 1980 with a degree in English and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.
He is author six books, including The Deal of the Century: The Break Up of AT&T (1986); The Taking of Getty Oil (1987); Eagle on the Street, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the SEC's battle with Wall Street (with David A. Vise, 1991); On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia (1994), Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004); and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008).
Mr. Coll's professional awards include two Pulitzer Prizes. He won the first of these, for explanatory journalism, in 1990, for his series, with David A. Vise, about the SEC. His second was awarded in 2005, for his book, Ghost Wars, which also won the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross award; the Overseas Press Club award and the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book published on international affairs during 2004. Other awards include the 1992 Livingston Award for outstanding foreign reporting; the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for his coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone; and a second Overseas Press Club Award for international magazine writing.
Mr. Coll graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude, from Occidental College in 1980 with a degree in English and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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January 31, 2021
The author was a Washington Post journalist,working in South Asia from 1989 till 1992.He would return to the region after 9/11 to write more books.
At the time,one of the biggest mysteries in South Asia was the death of General Zia ul Haq and who had killed him.The author embarked on an investigation of his own.
An American was arrested in Pakistan,and then released.The author states that he had links to Iran and the Soviets.The author tried to trace him in the US but he seemed to have disappeared.Another theory was that the US itself had something to do with Zia's plane crash and was not particularly interested in the investigation.
Then come his impressions of Benazir Bhutto,whom he sees for what she was.Refreshing that he doesn't glorify her,the way several Western journalists do.He is candid about her sense of entitlement and corruption.The last chapter deals with her assassination
Most of the book deals with India.Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated at the time by the LTTE of Sri Lanka.Some years before that,his mother,Indira Gandhi had been gunned down by her own Sikh bodyguards for launching an operation against the Sikhs.Thousands of Sikhs were then massacred in the ensuing rioting.
He also writes about India's perpetual Hindu Muslim tensions and riots,which result in frequent bloodshed.India's caste system leads to tensions of its own.He visits the poorest of the poor,including the rag pickers and the stone crushers who live miserable lives on the margins of society.
As a contrast,he interviews India's richest as well,the Ambanis,who are seen by many as robber barons.Then,he looks at the unrest in Kashmir which had started in early 1990 and continues till this day.
In Sri Lanka,the civil war raged on at the time as the LTTE unleashed a reign of terror.In retaliation,the government sent its own death squads for extra judicial killings.Other countries in the region learnt that lesson as well.
Then he looks at the Soviet Afghan war and the CIA's role in it,when all kinds of sophiticated weapons were provided to the "Mujahideen" for use against the Soviets.All these weapons passed through Pakistan,turning the country into an ammunition dump.
On their part,no sooner had the Soviets left that the Afghan warlords turned on each other,with renewed savagery.
There is a lot of violence in this book,but that it seems,is the fate of the countries of South Asia.
At the time,one of the biggest mysteries in South Asia was the death of General Zia ul Haq and who had killed him.The author embarked on an investigation of his own.
An American was arrested in Pakistan,and then released.The author states that he had links to Iran and the Soviets.The author tried to trace him in the US but he seemed to have disappeared.Another theory was that the US itself had something to do with Zia's plane crash and was not particularly interested in the investigation.
Then come his impressions of Benazir Bhutto,whom he sees for what she was.Refreshing that he doesn't glorify her,the way several Western journalists do.He is candid about her sense of entitlement and corruption.The last chapter deals with her assassination
Most of the book deals with India.Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated at the time by the LTTE of Sri Lanka.Some years before that,his mother,Indira Gandhi had been gunned down by her own Sikh bodyguards for launching an operation against the Sikhs.Thousands of Sikhs were then massacred in the ensuing rioting.
He also writes about India's perpetual Hindu Muslim tensions and riots,which result in frequent bloodshed.India's caste system leads to tensions of its own.He visits the poorest of the poor,including the rag pickers and the stone crushers who live miserable lives on the margins of society.
As a contrast,he interviews India's richest as well,the Ambanis,who are seen by many as robber barons.Then,he looks at the unrest in Kashmir which had started in early 1990 and continues till this day.
In Sri Lanka,the civil war raged on at the time as the LTTE unleashed a reign of terror.In retaliation,the government sent its own death squads for extra judicial killings.Other countries in the region learnt that lesson as well.
Then he looks at the Soviet Afghan war and the CIA's role in it,when all kinds of sophiticated weapons were provided to the "Mujahideen" for use against the Soviets.All these weapons passed through Pakistan,turning the country into an ammunition dump.
On their part,no sooner had the Soviets left that the Afghan warlords turned on each other,with renewed savagery.
There is a lot of violence in this book,but that it seems,is the fate of the countries of South Asia.
December 7, 2010
This is a reprint of a book Coll published in the early 90s after several years covering the region (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) for The Washington Post. The reprint includes an Epilogue that picks up with Bhutto's assassination in 2007.
The writing is slightly demanding--the reader must pay attention. But the reader is also rewarded for his efforts (sorry i'm just not into feminist linguistics; English should develop a neutral pronoun) because Steve Coll is funny. He also chose very interesting people to highlight when describing the various issues that afflicted the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s as it was on the cusp of major change--the Soviet Union (a major benefactor) was crumbling, proto-democracy was on the rise, and horrible bloody revolutions were either in their own death throes or just trying to get started.
But this is a book written by an American for an American audience. So what does it all mean for an American? Well, the region is mightily complex and one book is not going to help an American understand it; I think this book is best read with a small amount of background of at least some of the region. The issues of Nepal and Sri Lanka were pretty new for me and i was much less familiar with Bangladesh than Pakistan, India, or Afghanistan. I liked that Coll arranged the book thematically, rather than in a linear fashion. Although he was "following" the Grand Trunk Road, he moved around quite a bit in time and space, for which i was quite thankful. Events repeated but were addressed from different angles and little by little the pieces of the puzzle began to come together for me--yet not perfectly! There is so much meat in this book (for me; i don't think the same would be true for an area specialist) that i will certainly reread it in the future.
So again, what does it mean for an American audience? Well, America and its allies are heavily involved in the region (again) (duh), but things don't seem to be going the way people thought they would way back in the early 2000s...we are about to start a new decade and despite time lines for withdrawal and whatnot, i don't really see us truly leaving Afghanistan any time soon. This book helps make clear that the obvious problems there are further complicated by historical conflict between India and Pakistan, which materialize in different ways and in different places. But to simplify for a moment and to focus on just the American perspective, a Pakistani politician summed everything up quite neatly and Coll quoted him in the epilogue:
I think we do not have a common plan because we did not have common objectives. You can't have partners who are suspicious of one another. The Americans are suspicious of us. We are suspicious of the Americans. The Afghans are suspicious of us. We are suspicious of the Aghans.
That, of course, can be extrapolated to include the suspicions that India and Pakistan have of each other. If you are wondering what Indo-Pakistani mis- and distrust have to do with the American adventure in Afghanistan and our fate there, please read this book.
The writing is slightly demanding--the reader must pay attention. But the reader is also rewarded for his efforts (sorry i'm just not into feminist linguistics; English should develop a neutral pronoun) because Steve Coll is funny. He also chose very interesting people to highlight when describing the various issues that afflicted the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s as it was on the cusp of major change--the Soviet Union (a major benefactor) was crumbling, proto-democracy was on the rise, and horrible bloody revolutions were either in their own death throes or just trying to get started.
But this is a book written by an American for an American audience. So what does it all mean for an American? Well, the region is mightily complex and one book is not going to help an American understand it; I think this book is best read with a small amount of background of at least some of the region. The issues of Nepal and Sri Lanka were pretty new for me and i was much less familiar with Bangladesh than Pakistan, India, or Afghanistan. I liked that Coll arranged the book thematically, rather than in a linear fashion. Although he was "following" the Grand Trunk Road, he moved around quite a bit in time and space, for which i was quite thankful. Events repeated but were addressed from different angles and little by little the pieces of the puzzle began to come together for me--yet not perfectly! There is so much meat in this book (for me; i don't think the same would be true for an area specialist) that i will certainly reread it in the future.
So again, what does it mean for an American audience? Well, America and its allies are heavily involved in the region (again) (duh), but things don't seem to be going the way people thought they would way back in the early 2000s...we are about to start a new decade and despite time lines for withdrawal and whatnot, i don't really see us truly leaving Afghanistan any time soon. This book helps make clear that the obvious problems there are further complicated by historical conflict between India and Pakistan, which materialize in different ways and in different places. But to simplify for a moment and to focus on just the American perspective, a Pakistani politician summed everything up quite neatly and Coll quoted him in the epilogue:
I think we do not have a common plan because we did not have common objectives. You can't have partners who are suspicious of one another. The Americans are suspicious of us. We are suspicious of the Americans. The Afghans are suspicious of us. We are suspicious of the Aghans.
That, of course, can be extrapolated to include the suspicions that India and Pakistan have of each other. If you are wondering what Indo-Pakistani mis- and distrust have to do with the American adventure in Afghanistan and our fate there, please read this book.
June 25, 2016
This is a very important book about political, social and religious strife in South Asia in the 1980s and early 1990s, with an updated/added epilogue about the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Unfortunately for this reader, the book was more scholarly than informative. The whole time I read this book, I wished it was more like Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald which I found to be much more relatable, contemporary and informative on a non-scholarly level. On the Grand Trunk Road reads like an extended Pulitzer-consideration piece. If you are a serious journalist or a serious student of political science, you may find this book enriching.
February 7, 2022
Listened to the audiobook version.
Narrator was really good.
My 2nd book by Steve Coll. The 1st one Ghost Wars was an eye opener as to how the USA has it's greedy hands into so much of the East Asian lands and supports a lot of insurgents, rebels and even the Taliban.
This book is much lighter in laying blame for India, Pakistan,Nepal, and Bangladesh's corruption and is plain investigative journalism. Enjoyed it and may give it a 2nd listen.
Narrator was really good.
My 2nd book by Steve Coll. The 1st one Ghost Wars was an eye opener as to how the USA has it's greedy hands into so much of the East Asian lands and supports a lot of insurgents, rebels and even the Taliban.
This book is much lighter in laying blame for India, Pakistan,Nepal, and Bangladesh's corruption and is plain investigative journalism. Enjoyed it and may give it a 2nd listen.
June 14, 2015
This book is meant to be Steve Coll's
on-the-ground view of the state of things in post-Cold War South Asia (where he was a reporter at the time for the Washington Post). Some of the most interesting parts of this book were personal anecdotes or conversations Coll had with corrupt politicians or everyday people trying to survive (there is no doubt he was on-the-ground and had no fear whatsoever). But those more interesting parts were more towards the beginning.
The book started out strong, but ultimately tried to do way too much and ended up being a rambling series of factual, newspaper article-type pieces loosely tied together (including an epilogue about Benazir Bhutto, which was some random New Yorker article that Coll wrote 15 years later and decided to include in this new edition).
I read Coll's book on ExxonMobile and had really liked it, but this book was a disappointment and I would not have slogged through it but for my book club.
on-the-ground view of the state of things in post-Cold War South Asia (where he was a reporter at the time for the Washington Post). Some of the most interesting parts of this book were personal anecdotes or conversations Coll had with corrupt politicians or everyday people trying to survive (there is no doubt he was on-the-ground and had no fear whatsoever). But those more interesting parts were more towards the beginning.
The book started out strong, but ultimately tried to do way too much and ended up being a rambling series of factual, newspaper article-type pieces loosely tied together (including an epilogue about Benazir Bhutto, which was some random New Yorker article that Coll wrote 15 years later and decided to include in this new edition).
I read Coll's book on ExxonMobile and had really liked it, but this book was a disappointment and I would not have slogged through it but for my book club.
July 1, 2024
Low five stars. The political-eco-violence angle caught me by (pleasant) surprise. I really thought this was going to be a National Geographic-style sociological or maybe environmental look at South Asia, which would have been fine. Instead, it delved deep into 1990s South Asia, with both the economic despair and green shoots and the politico-military realities and similarities. This thrilled my thriller heart, no question. More than that, it was a good look at how a post-Cold War South Asia coped with geopolitical realities, which, as the book states quite well, Western economies had centuries to settle while South Asia had mere decades.
February 12, 2019
Sometimes reading what is meant to be a topical book much later provides a perspective that would not be available otherwise.
Steve Coll's book written in 1994 about his stay in south Asia between 1989 and 1992, makes for interesting reading. Though I haven't traveled on the Grand Trunk Road myself, reading his account from 1989, made me wonder what he would feel comparing that journey with one if he were to make now thirty years on? Vajapayee's Golden Quadrilateral project that converted a vast majority, if not all, of the GT Road to a 4 lane with a divider highway, was at least 13 years after Steve's journey. Subsequent additions in the form of multiple expressways has possibly resulted in a sea change in the travel experience. The bribes situation may not have changed much though.
The rose-tinted objectives & subsequent misuse of the Nehruvian system is covered in the chapter titled Gravy Train. But he does credit Nehru for having the courage to strengthen institutions to counter his power as the Prime Minister, thereby demonstrating that he was a true democrat.
Has Chopta, now in Uttarakhand, changed for the better from the account presented in "Village on a hill"? Going by news reports, it has transformed into a trekking base camp now. Hopefully it means more livelihoods for locals and hopefully has led to some reverse migration too!
"Among the Death Squads" helped unravel a part of Sri Lankan history that I wasn't aware of... the role of the People's Liberation Front, headed by Rohan Wijeweera. Mass killings by the PLF, the retaliation by the Govt "death squads", and in both cases, it was primarily Sinhalas killing Sinhalas. $0 years on, have we in India learnt from this part of the Sri Lankan history? Ideology apart, the prime driving force behind the movement was lots of rural, educated, unemployed youth, aspiring for employment, but not finding any. Let's hope, we don't down the same route.
"The Boys" attempts to provide various trigggers for the Kashmiri insurgency, touching upon the failure of the Nehruvian socialist system, the perceived injustices of the people of the Kashmir valley, the rigged elections of 1987, the lack of opportunities and employment for the youth, the Islamic (read Arabic) influence with money from Pakistan & Saudi Arabia, the complete breakdown of trust, among others.
"Inside Out" covers the impact of the Mandal politics, and the author covers both sides - those who were for it, and those against it. He covers how bonded labourers are seen working right adjacent to the Delhi airport, with the connivance of the police, the politicians, and the bureaucracy. He states the fact that in India, both at the centre and the state govt levels, a lot of well meaning legislation has been enacted, but rarely is it enforced, allowing new age feudal lords to replace those from before independence.
The Afghanistan problem post the Soviet withdrawal with various tribal groups looking to take control, Nepal's surge towards democracy from being a Hindu kingdom, and the impact of the economic liberalisation of the early 90's & Anil Ambani's views on it, forms the rest of the book.
Steve Coll's book written in 1994 about his stay in south Asia between 1989 and 1992, makes for interesting reading. Though I haven't traveled on the Grand Trunk Road myself, reading his account from 1989, made me wonder what he would feel comparing that journey with one if he were to make now thirty years on? Vajapayee's Golden Quadrilateral project that converted a vast majority, if not all, of the GT Road to a 4 lane with a divider highway, was at least 13 years after Steve's journey. Subsequent additions in the form of multiple expressways has possibly resulted in a sea change in the travel experience. The bribes situation may not have changed much though.
The rose-tinted objectives & subsequent misuse of the Nehruvian system is covered in the chapter titled Gravy Train. But he does credit Nehru for having the courage to strengthen institutions to counter his power as the Prime Minister, thereby demonstrating that he was a true democrat.
Has Chopta, now in Uttarakhand, changed for the better from the account presented in "Village on a hill"? Going by news reports, it has transformed into a trekking base camp now. Hopefully it means more livelihoods for locals and hopefully has led to some reverse migration too!
"Among the Death Squads" helped unravel a part of Sri Lankan history that I wasn't aware of... the role of the People's Liberation Front, headed by Rohan Wijeweera. Mass killings by the PLF, the retaliation by the Govt "death squads", and in both cases, it was primarily Sinhalas killing Sinhalas. $0 years on, have we in India learnt from this part of the Sri Lankan history? Ideology apart, the prime driving force behind the movement was lots of rural, educated, unemployed youth, aspiring for employment, but not finding any. Let's hope, we don't down the same route.
"The Boys" attempts to provide various trigggers for the Kashmiri insurgency, touching upon the failure of the Nehruvian socialist system, the perceived injustices of the people of the Kashmir valley, the rigged elections of 1987, the lack of opportunities and employment for the youth, the Islamic (read Arabic) influence with money from Pakistan & Saudi Arabia, the complete breakdown of trust, among others.
"Inside Out" covers the impact of the Mandal politics, and the author covers both sides - those who were for it, and those against it. He covers how bonded labourers are seen working right adjacent to the Delhi airport, with the connivance of the police, the politicians, and the bureaucracy. He states the fact that in India, both at the centre and the state govt levels, a lot of well meaning legislation has been enacted, but rarely is it enforced, allowing new age feudal lords to replace those from before independence.
The Afghanistan problem post the Soviet withdrawal with various tribal groups looking to take control, Nepal's surge towards democracy from being a Hindu kingdom, and the impact of the economic liberalisation of the early 90's & Anil Ambani's views on it, forms the rest of the book.
May 23, 2025
American author, correspondent, and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prizes Mr. Steve Coll’s 1994 South Asian travelogue / political analysis providing a journalist’s perspective on the Indian subcontinent following his tenure at The Washington Post’s desk in New Delhi from 1989 to 1992. Dated over a quarter century, ‘Road’ now serves more a snapshot of a place (and a writing craft) in time than anything else, capturing a region then slowly moving on from the Cold War socialism embodied by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru towards post-Cold War economic liberalization, and a print reporting moving on from typewriters to PCs. Geopolitical dimensions now universally relevant and understood in 2025 are already at work if you read between all Coll’s vividly written lines, however; rumors of Islamic extremism brewing north in Afghanistan as the Soviets retreated, rumors of Hindu nationalism brewing on the Delhi street, rumors of British colonization being replaced with American globalization, etc. All there in 1994. A hell of a lot has changed in South Asia since this period; India and Bangladesh have achieved rapid socioeconomic development, Nepal went secular, Afghanistan and Pakistan hosted Osama bin Laden (and U.S. troops after 9/11), the Maldives hosted tourist (and tsunamis), Sri Lanka hosted tourists (and tsunamis...and genocide), and some of the rising players in the subcontinent’s political game interviewed by Mr. Coll have either grasped the highest levers of national power (i.e. Muhammad Yunus) or were completely destroyed by them (i.e. Benazir Bhutto). Summarizing all of the above, South Asia was then to Coll a place where “10th and 20th centuries uneasily intermix—and often explode”. Coll wrote ‘Road’ as a sort of intermediary work between his Wall Street reporting of the 1980’s (recommended reading by my father, no less) and his later reporting on the War on Terror (eagerly on my docket), but his deeply intelligent, deeply anecdotal narrative style blending empathy and criticism remains timeless.
September 12, 2022
I had lined up four books on the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India region to be read in succession. Three out of the four were by Coll. This one was the first because I thought it will provide some historical context on the region, which in turn will make the other books more meaningful.
Instead, I was extremely disappointed with this book. It is promoted as a travelogue —- in the same vein as, say, as Paul Theroux’s travelogues. In Theroux’s travelogues, he meets and the reader meets people with different backgrounds and varying world views. Combine that with Theroux’s power of observations and his wry comments, and you have an interesting and absorbing book.
Coll’s writing is turgid. He keeps on harping about the same things over and over and over again. I guess he assumes that the reader is stupid.
After a long time, I’m abandoning a book about half way through. In that sense this review is not honest — I haven’t read the book completely. But, I’m just not able to go on. Life is too short to read such turgid prose.
Instead, I was extremely disappointed with this book. It is promoted as a travelogue —- in the same vein as, say, as Paul Theroux’s travelogues. In Theroux’s travelogues, he meets and the reader meets people with different backgrounds and varying world views. Combine that with Theroux’s power of observations and his wry comments, and you have an interesting and absorbing book.
Coll’s writing is turgid. He keeps on harping about the same things over and over and over again. I guess he assumes that the reader is stupid.
After a long time, I’m abandoning a book about half way through. In that sense this review is not honest — I haven’t read the book completely. But, I’m just not able to go on. Life is too short to read such turgid prose.
Read
July 22, 2023It was an interesting foray into the South Asia which was informing to me. However it would have been a better tie in if he started with 911/01 so we could read Bush's declared war on terrorism. We have little upfront interest in the assassinations in India, Sri Lanka etc. The book could have been a great one if he knew his audience a little better instead of writing a book for his colleagues.
The book drifted between terrorism and the rise of the middle class which was never fully developed to my knowledge. Both interesting subjects but do not mesh so well exactly. We were in one country to fight the cold war and in another to fight terrorism. The one on terrorism spread all over north central Asia. How can one increase the middle class in all of that confusion?
It took a lot of work and experience to write this book and thank you for making it available for guys like me. Nick
The book drifted between terrorism and the rise of the middle class which was never fully developed to my knowledge. Both interesting subjects but do not mesh so well exactly. We were in one country to fight the cold war and in another to fight terrorism. The one on terrorism spread all over north central Asia. How can one increase the middle class in all of that confusion?
It took a lot of work and experience to write this book and thank you for making it available for guys like me. Nick
October 3, 2020
Although dated at this point, this is an interesting political overview of different countries in South Asia based on the author's time working as a correspondent in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The stories and conversations were insightful, as well as the author's profile of certain leaders...many of whom have been politically assassinated since. My only criticism is that the author consistently used his white male privilege to gain access to different places and people and then would appear surprised, and upon his retroactive reflection, criticize locals for not scrutinizing his credentials more closely.
Read
January 21, 2021This is my third book of Steve Coll after Bin Laden and Ghost war. This book was written in 1994 about his stay in south Asia between 1989 and 1992 while working as journalist in the region.
Author makes his own investigation on mystery behind General Zia ul Haq death he suspects plane crash was a plan by CIA or his Rival Benazir Bhutto,
Book also deals on Rajiv Gandhi assasination by LTTE,history of LTTE, He writes on India’s communal tensions, Soviet Afghan war and the CIA’s role in it,People’s Liberation Front headed by Rohan Wijeweera etc.
This book is much informative for learing about South-asian countries .
Author makes his own investigation on mystery behind General Zia ul Haq death he suspects plane crash was a plan by CIA or his Rival Benazir Bhutto,
Book also deals on Rajiv Gandhi assasination by LTTE,history of LTTE, He writes on India’s communal tensions, Soviet Afghan war and the CIA’s role in it,People’s Liberation Front headed by Rohan Wijeweera etc.
This book is much informative for learing about South-asian countries .
February 24, 2017
Fascinating
September 28, 2017
not as good as other Steve colleagues workd
January 3, 2025
3.5 - This started off strong, but the tail end was mostly boring. Could’ve been ~50 pages shorter.
July 11, 2025
interesting
June 11, 2016
I started reading this one for a book club thing (DraughtHouse Book Club Meet-Up). I have read 2 of Steve Coll's more recent books, "Private Empire" and "Ghost Wars". "On the Grand Trunk Road" is over 20 years old, but that is what makes it so interesting. Coll structures the book as a travelogue analysis of various countries in Southern Asia including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The India chapters are all focusing on how the 1980s move to liberalize India's economy and transition from Nehru's sclerotic socialist state to something more global market capitalist in orientation. The chapters in Afghanistan and Pakistan are focused on how the 1980s war in Afghanistan had changed the region and looks forward wondering how it will all progress.
Now, 20 years later, we have the answers to the questions Coll asked. India, seems to have done quite well in its liberalization whereas Afghanistan and Pakistan lapsed back into conflict. The two big stories of the last 25 years have been the rise of the truly global economy and the persistent role of violence and conflict in the 'Stans.
The India chapters are all focusing on how the 1980s move to liberalize India's economy and transition from Nehru's sclerotic socialist state to something more global market capitalist in orientation. The chapters in Afghanistan and Pakistan are focused on how the 1980s war in Afghanistan had changed the region and looks forward wondering how it will all progress.
Now, 20 years later, we have the answers to the questions Coll asked. India, seems to have done quite well in its liberalization whereas Afghanistan and Pakistan lapsed back into conflict. The two big stories of the last 25 years have been the rise of the truly global economy and the persistent role of violence and conflict in the 'Stans.
May 20, 2013
The book was originally published in 1994, nineteen years ago, and so much is changed in those nineteen years. That is the problem with this book. It is too much an analysis of contemporary trends and happenings. That is to say, 1994 trends and happenings. While the author's descriptions are often colorful, and his comments sometimes insightful, too much has happened and too many other books on this topic have been published to make this one a high priority.
non-fiction-to-read
August 26, 2018Sounds like an interesting travel book including trains -- how will it compare with Theroux? Author won PEN award for The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
July 12, 2014
Unexpectedly good read. Part travelogue, part current events primer, the situation in South Asia may have evolved dramatically since the book was initially published, but they're written so well that one can still come away with a grasp on the forces and dynamics at play on the subcontinent.
January 6, 2008
A fascinating and charming look at the Indian subcontinent, its life and politics and traffic, from before S. Coll got all serious and grown-up and wrote the far less interesting "Ghost Wars".
Want to read
April 2, 2009I realize this is a reprint of a book first released in 1993, sounds very fascinating nonetheless.
Currently reading
August 5, 2009Embarrassing how little I know about S. Asia!
October 7, 2013
Did not like it
February 11, 2014
To understand the historic, political
,social and cultural roots of the present day problems of South Asia, a must read !
Makes you smile, laugh out loud ,and tugs at your heart strings .
,social and cultural roots of the present day problems of South Asia, a must read !
Makes you smile, laugh out loud ,and tugs at your heart strings .
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews