Customer Reviews

Bangladesh (Country Fact Files)

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This 45-page volume is meant as a school text, and includes a one page index, and one page glossary.

But the book, although it includes a large collection of photographs and data on the nation of Bangladesh, leaves a misleading impression that all is well in that land. Which it is not.

The book does briefly note the conflict surrounding the country's 1971 birth, but says nothing about the blood baths that followed in the 1970s and 1980s, nor about the radical Islamic leadership that today holds it a capital crime for any citizen to want the nation to establish peaceful relations with Israel.

There are some good points about the Hindu culture that dominates the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, but this book makes it sound as though Hindus are all wealthy and oppressive landlords, which is certainly not the case. In fact, there are considerable historical facts establishing intense Muslim animosity for Hindus, dating back earlier than the 12th century invasion of India by Afghan Muslims, and continuing through the 500 year occupation of India by Islamic Moguls, who murdered some 80 million Indians (mostly Hindus) during that time.

A very misleading school text, at best.

The book puts forward some informative data about the small picturesque green Bangladesh, nestled between the vast India and Myanmar. It is informative in the sense that it provides the reader with an accumulation of various data accumulated over the years, but I would not recommend it to a tourist who would want to visit Bangladesh, using this book as a guide. Provides good insight, but could be improved much, much more by giving more interesting material to read about and a lot of pictures. Overall, a mediocre book.

Cummings presents a brief overview of the life of a young Bangladeshi girl, Sabrina. Sabrina and her family live in a rural community in the northeast corner of the country. The book presents very general information about the climate, population, and living conditions of Bangladesh. The focus is on the girl and her family's lifestyle including food, shopping, school, and work and play. The book is not intended to give a complete historical or geographical background on the country, nor is it intended to be a guidebook. It is intended to give the young reader a brief glimpse into the lifestyle of a child in a different country and it does that quite satisfactorily.