The 1971 Liberation War is a seminal event in history for every Bangladeshi. It is a source of both horror and ultimate glory, wrought in the unlikeliest of circumstances, where a population of poets and farmers, under occupation of one of the strongest military in the world, with a just cause as its only weapon, fought and won its independence.

It is one of the great, affirming stories that help to restore our faith in humanity, that might is not right, that no amount of military prowess can indefinitely suppress a people's yearning to be free.

And none of it would have been possible without the peerless leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- the subject of the volume under review.

To his enduring credit, author Enayetullah Khan -- a leading entrepreneur as founder and managing director of The Cosmos Group -- has, through all his success, never quite let go of his early tryst with journalism and the written word. Be it through a steady stream of output on subjects ranging from archaeology to nature conservancy, or his continued stewardship as editor- in-chief of Dhaka Courier and UNB.

He is of the generation that came under the man's influence such that they swore by Bangabandhu as their leader and still do so today. Bangabandhu: Epitome of a Nation is a labour of love wrought in the signature style of Khan's publishing house, Cosmos Books: Certified scholarship in a visually stunning setting, capturing historic moments, for a book to be something more than the words, for it to be inspiring.

In their execution, Khan, who is known to maintain a hands-on presence even for many titles not authored by him, often recalls the role of the auteur in film theory.

Here, as always, Khan consults the leading experts in the field for the shaping of his narrative, all the better for it to maintain its stamp of authority.

Here, side by side with significant waypoints along the way, are the images of the life of Bangabandhu, of the Bangladesh that might have been. A leader who doesn't maintain his distance, who is so naturally of the people.

It's there in the photographs pooled together from a variety of historic sources, turning up some rare items.

So, where do you suppose Bangabandhu might have been on arguably the most important date in the sub-continent's violent and tumultuous century, partition 1947? It's included here among the images, depicting a historic setting worthy of meditation.

In keeping with the growing idea of print being more than a store of words, some of the historic documents also come with their own QR codes.

By using the innovation, one may read Syed Badrul Ahsan's excellent, judicious, translation of Bangabandhu's immortal March 7th speech in English while listening to a recording of the original, and still, appreciate its remarkable flow in another language.

How Bangabandhu, from that incredibly touching start, launches into a historic condemnation of the Bengali people's, his people's, life as Pakistanis, and packs it in with a call to independence, in li electrifying minutes, sprinkled with debriefings on meetings with the West Pakistanis, sundry instructions on how to observe the non-cooperation movement, and punctuated throughout by a rising, unrelenting^ soaring cry for justice

In a nation's becoming, it's surring, it's epitomizing, to the point that it moves history, marks him out as oneof the giants among all the leaders of independent nations, that the world witnessed in the second half of the 20th century.

This book never veers from that, while also capturing some of the inspiration that he offered.

It's there in the series of paintings, by Shahabuddin, some of which appear here from Khan's personal collection. The canvases like vast oceans of history, upon which Bangabandhu has struck for his people.

The narrative follows that singularity in Bangabandhu -- a leader for the East Bengalis, such as there hasn't been before or since, as he emerges, and remains by them always, as he grows, and yet remains by them only, always maintaining a conversation with his people, always giving them a voice, in that booming baritone for the ages.

And when they make it eventually, against unspeakable odds, you know they did it for him only. He certainly does, at Heathrow in that classic press conference, oozing the charisma of a liberated nation.

Like all worthy heroes, the end must remain tragic. But while it lasted, there was magic. That is what the volume under review attempts to recreate. And must be commended for doing a mighty good job of it.q

Shayan S. Khan is Executive Editor, Dhaka Courier