~ Alex Von Tunzelmann
Really liked this book. Amazingly well researched. If you're a history buff, which I am to a fair extent, and if, further, you are interested in the topic of the British Raj, Indian independence movement, etc., which I am to a very large extent, then this book is a treasure. Superbly rich with details, yet told in a story like fashion with plenty of humour. Unbelievable details of events/people that led up to independence, and partition. Most of this was so not told to us in our high school history lessons. Talk about distorting historical facts conveniently. Some of the details I really wonder about in this book. Did they really happen that way? The entire book is heavily foot-noted, so the research is apparent, the bibliography transparent. So I want to believe none of this is possibly cooked up. Makes you re-think the whole memory you have of what you learnt about the British rule, and the freedom movement, and more so of the freedom fighters.
The key players in the book- Lord Mountbatten, Edwina Mountbatten, Nehru and Gandhi. We all knew Gandhi was eccentric, but the details in this book bring them out at a whole new level. He was most ineffective on the most important issues through the course of the most important couple of decades of the movement. Ideological, yes. Spiritual, of course. Guru to a sweeping majority of the nation, yes. But completely ineffective as a leader of the actual independence movement.
So much detail about the Mountbattens, and their completely intertwined destiny with India. Details of Dickie Mountbatten's obsession with grandeur and importance is brought out in the most humorous way. And the whole relationship between Edwina and Nehru is described in the most beautiful way. Theirs truly sounds like a love bound by the soul, something eternal. And to read the bare facts of issues like Kashmir. What happened to lead to how things are today, and events and people that shaped such a major destiny for India's future. The dreadfulness of the events leading up to and following partition.. Eye-opening in many cases. Also includes some really nice photographs.
Great book. Considering its the author's first one, I am quite impressed.
Really liked this book. Amazingly well researched. If you're a history buff, which I am to a fair extent, and if, further, you are interested in the topic of the British Raj, Indian independence movement, etc., which I am to a very large extent, then this book is a treasure. Superbly rich with details, yet told in a story like fashion with plenty of humour. Unbelievable details of events/people that led up to independence, and partition. Most of this was so not told to us in our high school history lessons. Talk about distorting historical facts conveniently. Some of the details I really wonder about in this book. Did they really happen that way? The entire book is heavily foot-noted, so the research is apparent, the bibliography transparent. So I want to believe none of this is possibly cooked up. Makes you re-think the whole memory you have of what you learnt about the British rule, and the freedom movement, and more so of the freedom fighters.
The key players in the book- Lord Mountbatten, Edwina Mountbatten, Nehru and Gandhi. We all knew Gandhi was eccentric, but the details in this book bring them out at a whole new level. He was most ineffective on the most important issues through the course of the most important couple of decades of the movement. Ideological, yes. Spiritual, of course. Guru to a sweeping majority of the nation, yes. But completely ineffective as a leader of the actual independence movement.
So much detail about the Mountbattens, and their completely intertwined destiny with India. Details of Dickie Mountbatten's obsession with grandeur and importance is brought out in the most humorous way. And the whole relationship between Edwina and Nehru is described in the most beautiful way. Theirs truly sounds like a love bound by the soul, something eternal. And to read the bare facts of issues like Kashmir. What happened to lead to how things are today, and events and people that shaped such a major destiny for India's future. The dreadfulness of the events leading up to and following partition.. Eye-opening in many cases. Also includes some really nice photographs.
Great book. Considering its the author's first one, I am quite impressed.
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