Freedom at Midnight

Product Information

Freedom at Midnight is the true story of the events surrounding Indian independence, beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten of Burma as the last Viceroy of British India, and ending with the assassination and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi.

I can't give it more than a star and my sentimental associations with the book prevent me from shelving it as disappointing, waste of time or should never have been written as it deserves. The authors have spoken about the Partition from an emotional perspective of a group of people who have been living as brothers and fought the British together for their freedom has to go separate ways after the Independence. This narrative is undeniably fascinating, however, it also places an almost exclusive emphasis on the “great men” of history. But that amputation of “the greatest jewel in Our Crown” was in fact an operation of extraordinary difficulty, complication, time and emotion.As you read, you'll find a great deal is written about Mahatma Gandhi, the "dejected bird" of Mountbatten, Nehru, the handsome Indian who is incredibly fascinated by the Mountbattens, Jinnah, the only guy who is shown in the bad light, and Patel, well. In this account, the British were “a race that God had destined” to rule the Indians, and therefore “naturally acquired” India. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, this book is still the best-selling account of Indian independence.

On the back was the message: “This is what has been happening to our Sikh and Hindu brothers and sisters at the hands of the Moslems when they take over. In a nutshell, British Raj in India can be described as history's most grandiose accomplishment that had the most banal of origins. While Winston Churchill, the arch‐imperialist, remained in power, he impeded every move and indeed betrayed his well‐intentioned Viceroy Wavell. Mahatma Gandhi was antagonistic to partition while Jinnah wanted a separate Muslim nation at all costs. The authors do it ingeniously through a multitude of character‐sketches, a perfectly acceptable method since the whole imbroglio was as much a matter of character as of principle.Freedom at midnight gives a comprehensive account of the last year of the crown rule in India and the rigid dichotomy between the 2 major religions viz.