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Summary
This attack was unprecedented in one respect: the handlers remotely directed the terrorists from abroad via GPS, Google Earth, the internet, and IP telephony, with full knowledge of every corner of the hotel, down to the positions of the security cameras. The terrorists also used the uninterrupted live broadcasts of the media and information posted in real time on social networks to adjust their operations on the fly.
As a result, the attack was also recorded with unprecedented completeness. The hotel was under siege for three days and three nights, and the whole world watched on screens for three days and three nights: they saw the shocking incompetence of India's security forces, the bureaucracy of the police system, and officers equipped with primitive gear and too few vehicles; they also saw hotel staff and individual police officers risking their lives to save hostages beyond anything imaginable.
From a diplomatic perspective, the attack destroyed the trust and confidence that had been gradually built between the two neighboring countries, India and Pakistan, since 2004. The United States described the attack as "India's 9/11" and used it as a basis for waging its global war on terror.
The journalist, who has a deep understanding of the region and its politics, interviewed survivors of the catastrophe and reconstructed the ins and outs of the November 26 Mumbai attacks in a true story full of suspense, tragedy, history, and heroism.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in South Asian politics and international counterterrorism
- General readers who enjoy narrative nonfiction about real events
- Students and practitioners in journalism, communication, and emergency management
- Those interested in individual choices andhumanity amid disaster
Not a good fit for
- Readers sensitive to violent scenes and details of terrorist attacks
- Those seeking light, entertaining reading
- Readers who prefer a single protagonist and a linear plot structure
Reading tips
- Read the table of contents and character list first, and sort out the multiple threads of the hotel, the police, and the handlers before entering the main text.
- Keep notes on the timeline as you read; this helps in understanding the sequence of decisions by all parties during the three-day siege.
- Read alongside a map or event timeline to better grasp the spatial layout of the multi-site attacks in Mumbai.
- After finishing, revisit the role of live media and social networks in the event and reflect further.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 人物表
- 序章
- 第一章 魔法屋
- 第二章 大卫王子
- 第三章 愿主赐你平安
- 第四章 山羊、刀和火柴盒
- 第五章 羔羊和小鸡
- 第六章 火海通道
- 第七章 长夜漫漫
- 第八章 死神的阴影
- 第九章 安拉不要你
- 第十章 “黑猫”与白旗
- 后记
- 安息——逝去的生命
- 关于信息资料来源的说明
- 致谢
FAQ
Is this book a novel or a record of real events?
Can readers without background knowledge of South Asian politics understand it?
Are there many descriptions of violence in the book?
Is it suitable as discussion material for courses or reading groups?
Comments
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About the author
Cathy Scott-Clark is a British investigative journalist who often collaborates with Adrian Levy on non-fiction works about South Asia and counter-terrorism. Publicly available information is currently limited; the library holds one work by her, the non-fiction book The Siege. Based on the limited material available, her writing is grounded in investigative reporting and focuses on security issues and counter-terrorism in South Asia, with related non-fiction produced together with her collaborator. Because biographical information about the author remains incomplete, details of her education, career, and awards cannot yet be confirmed, and readers may primarily understand her writing through the subject matter and documentary style of her works.
Adrian Levy is a British investigative journalist and writer who has long worked in investigative nonfiction. He has often collaborated with Cathy Scott-Clark, and the two have co-authored several investigative works that tend to focus on tracing the facts behind events and probing public issues in depth. His representative work, Siege, belongs to documentary literature and continues this kind of writing's attention to scenes, people, and the sequence of events. Because public information is limited, little is known about the details of his life, his educational background, or his professional career; the available information mainly concerns his collaborative writing method and the types of works he produces. From what can be confirmed, his writing is grounded in investigative reporting and emphasizes fact-checking and reconstruction, giving him a recognizable presence in the field of documentary literature. For Chinese readers, understanding his collaborative relationships and the orientation of his works is the main way to grasp the character of his writing.
Shan Ying is a Chinese-language author of narrative nonfiction, about whom limited public information is currently available. Two of her works are included in the collection: Siege and Perfect Faces: Reflections on Korean Beauty and Lookism Culture. Judging from their subjects, her writing focuses on specific social phenomena and contemporary lived experience. The former takes siege as its theme, while the latter examines and reflects on the Korean beauty industry and lookism culture, showing a sustained interest in the relationship between group behavior, ideas about the body, and popular culture. Her works are classified as narrative nonfiction, and her approach tends toward analysis and narration grounded in real-world material rather than fiction. Because biographical details have not been made public, her nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, and writing career cannot be confirmed; readers may chiefly rely on the two works above to understand her areas of interest and writing style.
