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Product Description
Product Description
The electrifying story of India’s struggle for independence, told in this classic account (first published in 1975) by two fine journalists who conducted hundreds of interviews with nearly all the surviving participants – from Mountbatten to the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi.
On 14 August 1947 one-fifth of humanity claimed their independence from the greatest empire history has ever seen. But 400 million people were to find that the immediate price of freedom was partition and war, riot and murder. In this superb reconstruction, Collins and Lapierre recount the eclipse of the fabled British Raj and examine the roles enacted by, among others, Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Mountbatten in its violent transformation into the new India and Pakistan.
This is the India of Jawaharlal Nehru, heart-broken by the tragedy of the country’s division; of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a Moslem who drank, ate pork and rarely entered a mosque, yet led 45 million Moselms to nationhood; of Gandhi, who stirred a subcontinent without raising his voice; of the last viceroy, Mountbatten, beseeched by the leaders of an independent India to take back the powers he’d just passed to them.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.From the Back Cover
Fifty years ago, seconds after midnight on 14-15 August 1947, the Union Jack, emblazoned with the Star of India, began its final journey down the flagstaff of Viceroy's House, New Delhi. One fifth of humanity claimed their independence from the greatest empire history has ever seen. But 400 million people were to find that the price of freedom was partition and war, riot and murder.
In this new edition of their superb reconstruction of events at the time, Collins and Lapierre recount the eclipse of the fabled British Raj and examine the roles enacted by, among others, Mahatma Ghandi, Lord Mountbatten, Nehru and Jinnah in its violent transformation into the new India and Pakistan.
'Thrilling…staggers the imagination'
DAILY MAIL
'There is no single passage in this profoundly researched book that one could actually fault. Having been there most of the time in question, I can vouch for the accurate of its general mood. It is a work of scholarship, of investigation, research and of significance.'
JAMES CAMERON, 'New York Times'
'The song of India… illuminated in scenes like a pageant.'
TIME
'A heroic tale that has not been told a tenth as well before… It will give more non-Indians more knowledge of the vast circumstances surrounding the birth of India than anything previously written. With an instinct for drama and a skill in narration, the authors take the reader from Whitehall to Delhi, to Calcutta, to Lahore, to Pula, to the villages of the Punjab and Bengal; their hold on the reader never falters.'
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fantastic read - moving, with the kind of sweeping coherent narrative worthy of a great fictional author. And maybe there's the rub: it has been criticised (I think with some justification) with being pro-British, and building the story from the elegiac portrayal of a fading empire whose greatness once...etc etc- and perhaps because of relying too heavily on Mountbatten as a source. So read it - but maybe read Liberty or Death by Patrick French as well! In that version of the independence struggle, the British and - heresy in India, I know - Gandhi come in for heavy criticism.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A memorable and moving book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. A factual history that reads like a novel, this book speaks to everyone. Meticulously researched, the reader is left feeling as though they were there to experience every pain, every victory, every setback and every joy. I think this book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the political and ethical problems that the world is still faced with today. Bravo!
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If the 20th century history of the sub-continent is not for you, think again. You will delight in the quirkiness, be appalled at the violence and be left saddened by the inevitability of human history. All of which is brought to life by the authors. A must.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the most biased books I have ever read
For people totally new to the subject of India's independence from the British Empire and its subsequent horrors of the partition this is a nice introduction. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by D. J. Simons
Not the best book on the subject
This book is not an all balanced reading material. If someone is looking for a launch pad into the innumerable books written on this subject ie the turmoil that lead to the... Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2009 by San Roze
Excellent book
This is a book recommended to me by my father, who read it back in the day ('80 or something). My recent interest in history is well served by this book, even if it does somehow... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2005 by DukeofLancasterVI
Not at all a book for intelligent or informed readers
I have to disagree with the other reviewers on this one, I'm afraid ... this book does not at all present a balanced picture of the events surrounding the independence and... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2003
A very well presented perspective
This book is an incredible read. It is a book that records history and tries to understand the idealogies and the struggles of British Raj and the transition from colonialism to... Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2002 by Pranay Manocha
A Brilliant recount on what actually happened.
This is one of the best books that I've ever read about the Indian - Pakistan Independence As a child, I was always told about what had happened, but to read about it, has made it... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2001
THIS IS A BOOK TO CHANGE ONE'S LIFE.
AS A VERITABLE DEVOURER OF BOOKS IN GENERAL, I MUST SAY WITH ALL HONESTY THAT THIS BOOK AFFECTED ME LIKE NO OTHER I HAVE EVER READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 1999
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