Very rarely comes a defining moment that changes history to the extent of being un-recognizable and very rarely comes a book that changes your life, perceptions and everything that you presumed to be true once and for all. Independence of India was the defining moment in modern India and this book by the author duo Dominique Lappierre and Larry Collins on the before and after-math of the same is the defining book in my life.

Cameron, James (October 26, 1975). "Book Review: Freedom at Midnight". New York Times Book Review . Retrieved 22 November 2014. "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 accuracy of its general mood. It is a work of scholarship, of investigation, research and of significance."The author however, succeeds because of the little incidents he manages to present in an engaging way. For example, how the line of partition was actually drawn and by whom. I can say with utmost certainty that no text book contains this information and nor will it. When reading about these little things, one begins to understand more about the partition than what is generally understood.

The book also recounts Mountbatten's diplomacy and his art of administration. It also gives an account of the Crown Rule in India: a race destined to govern, subdue and continue their futile existence ( It was definitely futile from an Indian point of view since it is very clear that the economic situation of the colonies was actually worsened by the experience of British Colonialism). Listner पत्रिका में छपा था, उसमे माउंटबैटन ने खुद ही अपनी बड़ाई हाँकी है कि कैसे देश को आज़ादी के बाद उन्होंने कैसे टेक ओवर किया था नेहरू एवम पटेल की मिन्नतों पर। वाह! The Reminiscences of The Nehru Age में इस घटना का जिक्र करते हुए लिखा है कि वी पी मेनन ने 4 सितम्बर 1947 को शिमला फोन किया तो था लेकिन नेहरू और पटेल को संज्ञान में न लेते हुए। यह भी लिखा है कि वी पी मेनन नेहरू के शुरुआती विरोधियों में से एक थे। खैर, फोन करने के बाद अलसुबह वह मथाई से मिले और निवेदन किया कि किसी तरह नेहरू को राजी करें। नेहरू और पटेल दोनों वी पी मेनन से इस बात पर सख्त नाराज थे, लेकिन अब चूंकि गवर्नर जनरल शिमला से चल चुके थे तो उनको दिल्ली पहुँचते ही उन्हें असमंजस में डालना उचित नही था। इस प्रकार तीनो के सम्मिलित प्रयास से प्रशाषनिक गतिविधियों में तेजी आई- Freedom at Midnight में इसका अकेला श्रेय लॉर्ड माउंटबैटन को देना कहां तक उचित है?

Change Website Language

The next morning those soldiers who had served under his command owed their lives to his last intervention on their behalf. An hour out of Rawalpindi, the train bearing the Sikhs and Hindus of the 2nd Cavalry was ambushed by Moslem League National Guardsmen. Without their arms they would have been massacred.

Ah,” said Gandhi, “if only we could separate as two brothers. But we will not. It will be an orgy of blood. We shall tear ourselves asunder in the womb of the mother who bears us.”

Develop

Think this is one book which every kid in the subcontinent should read before he finishes high school. Glad that I've read it now, even if, 15 years too late. a b Gordon, Leonard A. (August 1976). "Book review: Freedom at Midnight". The Journal of Asian Studies. University of Cambridge Press. 35 (4). doi: 10.2307/2053703. JSTOR 2053703. A main theme of the authors is the sheer size and breadth of the British Empire at its peak as the Age of Imperialism is about to come to an end: The horror of partition was so animated in the book, you would flinch with revulsion. The plot of assassinating the Mahatma would make you restless. The struggle and stubbornness of political leaders to get their objectives would make you wonder, "Was the freedom really worth it?" 40s is the most important period in Indian history and the 40's India comes alive in every sentence of this book. The socio-economic conditions, the religious mindsets, the convoluted politics - you live the fight for freedom yourself throught this book. I am sure, after reading this book, you would look at our famous national leaders in a different light than before.

Above all, it keeps on parroting that the a power that had ruled India in all senses had no idea what kind of fate was going to befall upon the millions of people who had only one stake in this affair— staying alive! Readers in Pakistan may find it particularly off-putting as it gives a very negative portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and essentially is an argument against partition. The British were a race that "God had destined to rule the Indians" and had acquired India "naturally."

My Book Notes

But, it makes a travesty of history. Above all, it renders one of the bloodiest mismanagements in the history of mankind in such sepia-tinted prose that things look really romantic, or atmost tragic. The ruling elites all thought that independence and partition would cool the tempers of the people. Only Gandhi had a clue what would really happen: There were the sepoys, Indian infantry men, at the siege of Arcot offering their British officers their last rice rations because they knew better how to endure the agonies of starvation; the Guides, galloping down to Delhi to assault the mutineers in 1857; the 6th Gurkhas swarming up the ridge from which the Turks dominated the beaches of Gallipoli, the sowars, or cavalry troopers, of the 11th Prince Albert Victor’s Own Cavalry, the 2nd Royal Lancers, and the 18th Lancers stemming the rush of Rommel’s armor at Meikili in the Western Desert, spurning the Field Marshal’s call to surrender, and perhaps saving all Egypt by their stand. The obvious racial undertone gets a new height when the authors bring forth idiotic and almost dead Aryan invasion theory to explain why Punjabis are a "marshal" race, as opposed to the "small and dark Bengalis" who are "mere Asiatics." I am sure that it has nothing to do with that Bengal is where most of the protest movements started from. Because anything good that comes out of India, well it has to be influenced by the higher race, even in ancient times. Freedom at Midnight aroused controversy for its portrayal of the British expatriates, the native rulers of India, and members of India's first cabinet. [2] [4] James Cameron described it as the result of deep research into events often neglected by other historians. [5]