Book Review The Fiction of Fact-finding Author: Manoj Mitta Publisher: HarperCollins, India Pages: 259, Printed price: Rs. 350 “Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through,” wrote Jonathan Swift three centuries ago. Our jails are full of petty thieves and proxy prisoners. The wasps and hornets establish business empires or occupy political thrones. A few are worshipped as gurus and godmen. Some go on to become historical heroes. In his classical work, Civilizations , historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto says that “Heroes do not make history but history makes heroes.” Hitler would not have become a hero for the Germans unless the economic hardships of the time had not conspired against the German Jews who were relatively better off. The Jews became a convenient enemy for a people who needed a scapegoat to carry away all their grief and sins. Seven decades later Hitler’s expe...
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