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Born of nearly three decades of closely watching the bewitching island nation of Sri Lanka, this book has been written in the 10th year of peace after a 30-year-long brutal civil war had ended, but one which had torn the country apart in the process. This relatively long period of peace should have brought about substantive dividends of Reconciliation and reconstruction but, regrettably, it has not. This analysis had started on a note of optimism, which indeed was the situation. But what it finally depicts instead is an antithesis of that initial premise. The analysis is being presented with the conviction that it is a truthful account, backed by proven findings and time-tested evidence of Sri Lanka's lost opportunities to rise to the occasion. It concludes that every ethnic community is responsible for today's disappointing and debilitating situation, though the majority Buddhist-Sinhalese community justifiably stands accused of having played the most divisive role in this dark history of racialism. Apart from the focus on the contemporary history, the developments since the early 1930s which had contributed to the shaping of the subsequent history, has been dealt with in detail. The concluding prospect of the next two years may appear to be too dark for comfort, but if the current political dispensation, the Rainbow Coalition, carries out its promises, things might just start looking up for this beautiful country.