The stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947 liberated 400 million Indians from the British Empire. One of the defining moments of world history had been brought about by a tiny number of people, including Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery prime minister-to-be; Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India without delay. Within hours of the midnight chimes, however, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror. INDIAN SUMMER depicts the epic sweep of events that ripped apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and reveals the secrets of the most powerful players on the world stage: the Cold War conspiracies, the private deals, and the intense and clandestine love affair between the wife of the last viceroy and the first prime minister of free India. With wit, insight and a sharp eye for detail, Alex von Tunzelmann relates how a handful of people changed the world for ever.
Indian Summer
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The stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947 liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, a nation admitted it was no longer a superpower, and a king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator.
It was one of the defining moments of world history, but it had been brought about by a tiny number of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister with radical plans for a socialist revolution; Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Muslim leader who would stop at nothing to establish the world's first modern Islamic state; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India without delay. Within hours of the midnight chimes, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror. Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi and the Mountbattens struggled with public and private turmoil while their dreams of freedom and democracy turned to chaos, bloodshed, genocide and war.
Indian Summer depicts the epic sweep of events that ripped apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and saw one million people killed and ten million dispossessed. It reveals the secrets of the most powerful players on the world stage: the Cold War conspiracies, the private deals, and the intense and clandestine love affair between the wife of the last viceroy and the first prime minister of free India.
Steeped in the private papers and reflections of the participants, this is an extraordinary story of complex passions and divided loyalties. With wit, insight and a sharp eye for detail, Alex von Tunzelmann relates how a handful of people changed the world for ever. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
Advance praise for INDIAN SUMMER
`Indian Summer is a true tour de force: absorbing in its detail and masterly in the broad sweep of its canvas' SIR MARTIN GILBERT
`An engaging, controversial, very lively and, at times, refreshingly irreverent tour de force. Alex von Tunzelmann has written a dramatic story, laced with tragedy and farce, and done so very well. A remarkable debut' LAWRENCE JAMES, author of Raj: The Making of British India
`The partition of India and Pakistan is one of the key moments of the twentieth century, involving as it did the forced migration and massacre of untold numbers of people. Then as now, controversy dogged the issue and the main personalities, especially the last Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Alex von Tunzelmann has produced a superb account of an event that still has the power to shock; her lucid and even-handed narrative guides us safely through the excitements and complexities of the period' TREVOR ROYLE, author of The Last Days of the Raj
`Alex von Tunzelmann is a wonderful historian, as learned as she is shrewd. But she is also something more unexpected: a writer with a wit and an eye for character that Evelyn Waugh would surely have admired' TOM HOLLAND
`Indian Summer is outstandingly vivid and authoritative. Alex von Tunzelmann brings a lively new voice to narrative history-writing' VICTORIA GLENDINNING --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising good read about the end of an era and the downfall of an Empire
14 Nov 2007
By Kali
Format:Paperback
I attended a book signing event on the 13th November 2007 in Brighton were the author talked about the complexities of writing such an epic in which she looked at the dynamics that bought about the fall of an Empire and the most unlikely love story ever not to be reported by the press, that of Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.
The book is surprisingly good, I have to confess I didn't have high hopes when I purchased it but the subject is of such interest to me I was willing to take a chance and buy it and I am glad I did.
Ms Von Tunzleman has a written a book that has obviously been researched extensively, both here in the UK and also in India and her candid no nonsense approach to all the subjects she touches, such as Hindu and Muslim hostilities, Mahatma Gandhi's strange predilections that made people both love and hate him, to the fate of the dispossessed, the love story between Nehru and Edwina makes it very interesting to read to the point that you can't put it down.
For a historian Ms Von Tunzleman has made this book very accessible to the ordinary reader, she goes into great detail but she is never boring as she explains how India became a British Empire and how when it finally crumbled into dust, it did so, so swiftly that no one, least of all the British were prepared for the backlash that was to follow.
A superb book with many photos of an era that depicts two nations in transition, India the Jewel in the Crown striking out on its own and Great Britain, suddenly realising that its days as the greatest Empire in the world have come to an end, not so much a tragedy as the inevitability of change in a world flinging of the chains of colonial paternalism.
The book is surprisingly good, I have to confess I didn't have high hopes when I purchased it but the subject is of such interest to me I was willing to take a chance and buy it and I am glad I did.
Ms Von Tunzleman has a written a book that has obviously been researched extensively, both here in the UK and also in India and her candid no nonsense approach to all the subjects she touches, such as Hindu and Muslim hostilities, Mahatma Gandhi's strange predilections that made people both love and hate him, to the fate of the dispossessed, the love story between Nehru and Edwina makes it very interesting to read to the point that you can't put it down.
For a historian Ms Von Tunzleman has made this book very accessible to the ordinary reader, she goes into great detail but she is never boring as she explains how India became a British Empire and how when it finally crumbled into dust, it did so, so swiftly that no one, least of all the British were prepared for the backlash that was to follow.
A superb book with many photos of an era that depicts two nations in transition, India the Jewel in the Crown striking out on its own and Great Britain, suddenly realising that its days as the greatest Empire in the world have come to an end, not so much a tragedy as the inevitability of change in a world flinging of the chains of colonial paternalism.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An extremely impressive first work from Alex von Tunzelmann. Clearly very thoroughly researched, the book manages to wear its scholarship lightly and is written with wit and a sophistication that is refreshing in works of this nature. The author views the tumultuous events of 1947, so relevant in this sixtieth anniversary year, through the prism of the personalities of, and the personal relationships between, the main players on the Anglo-Indian stage. The result is an immensely readable history and perceptive analysis of the partition of India and the role played in its genesis and execution by the Mountbattens, Nehru, Jinnah and Ghandi (and others). There are also some fascinating photographs - not least the wonderful cover photo.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is appropriate that I finished reading this book at the stroke of midnight 14 August 2007. This first book by the author is a wonderful retelling of the events and personalities leading to the independence of India and the Partition to India and Pakistan. The book's strength is the retelling of the close relationship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten. Edwina was born to immense wealth. Her maternal grandfather left her assets of 3 million pounds ( equivalent to 100 million pounds today ). She inherited even more from her father's side.
Edwina forged a close relationship with Nehru while serving as Vicereine of India. She died in bed in Sabah in 1960 a batch of letters by her bedside and a few letters strewn across her bed- she must have been reading them when she died. All the letters were from Nehru. Edwina was buried at sea from HMS Wakeful, escorted by an Indian frigate the Trishul, sent by Nehru to cast a wreath of marigolds into the waves after Edwina's coffin. Nehru died 4 years later in 1964. ( see pages 60, 351& 352 )
According to Judith Brown's Nehru- A Political Life © 2003 at page 366 footnote 46, the best life of Edwina is Janet Morgan's Edwina Mountbatten- A Life of Her Own. © 1991
Edwina forged a close relationship with Nehru while serving as Vicereine of India. She died in bed in Sabah in 1960 a batch of letters by her bedside and a few letters strewn across her bed- she must have been reading them when she died. All the letters were from Nehru. Edwina was buried at sea from HMS Wakeful, escorted by an Indian frigate the Trishul, sent by Nehru to cast a wreath of marigolds into the waves after Edwina's coffin. Nehru died 4 years later in 1964. ( see pages 60, 351& 352 )
According to Judith Brown's Nehru- A Political Life © 2003 at page 366 footnote 46, the best life of Edwina is Janet Morgan's Edwina Mountbatten- A Life of Her Own. © 1991
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book to Read on Independence
A very interesting book that is highly recomended to read. However I felt that the book should have some more information and description from the perspective of the Muslim leaders... Read more
Published 12 days ago by MR N KHAN
3.0 out of 5 stars
The British (fake) version of India's history
This book does a good job of rehashing the same old "British" propaganda about the communal reasons for India's partition and independence. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Ram Sury
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, scintilating, at times I was aghast at the sheer scale of...
This is a really great book, it tells the story of India in a sweep of personal history. The facts are all there, but the author has done a wonderful job in not getting too bogged... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Plato rules
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book
I visited Hyderabad this Autumn and it is interesting to read this story of Indian independence which is combining interesting personalities, history and geography. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jan Wammen Dam
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very detailed insight
I've read a lot about the Indian independence struggle but this is the most detailed and revealing history yet. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. P. Wingfield
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Read
My brother recommended this to me and bought it for me for Christmas. Surprisingly enjoyable and thoroughly recommend it. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Capone Boy
5.0 out of 5 stars
The setting of the sun on the British Empire
The sub-title of this book, "The secret history of the end of an empire" is probably a bit misleading. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Aidan J. McQuade
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bringing history to life
I find some historical books rather dry for my taste, but this book really brings this era to life. Alex von Tunzelmann succeeds in not only educating us about a time in the past... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Rebecca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and well worth a read
Having never covered the British Empire at school and having travelled to India and picked up a good bit of history on the way, wanted to read an account of how India gained... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2011 by Rebecca C
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alex's triumph
An excellent and well researched historical journey, with lots of the authors pointed and very accurate observations presented with a mixture of worthy cynicism as to the usual... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2010 by JoPat
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