Freedom at Midnight

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 blow up a few biographies and events of 1 year into 582 pages.

I would have to say it's a brilliantly written book, even if it does seem a little too enamoured and awe-struck with the British. Some people I know find it partial and apologist, but I would suggest potential readers to dismiss this as sanctimoniousness. Read it!

Not at all a book for intelligent or informed readers (27/33 people found this helpful)

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 partition of India ... much more than that, it is an attempted apology for the British role in that process & the authors' sycophancy to Mountbatten is frankly distasteful (they even mention that after reading this book, he asked them to be his biographers!! Say no more). That may be their view, which is fair enough, but they barely present, discuss, analyse or rebutt (more credible) opposing views. More dangerously in a work of popular history, it portrays the British Raj as an age of untarnished glory, with the prose practically dripping with the authors' romanticisation of the era. That may have been the experience of the tens of thousands Brits ruling India, but it obviously was not the much harsher historical reality of the hundreds of millions of exploited Indians or they clearly would not have been agitating for independece. Worse, this is a history-by-personality, embarrassingly light on meaningful or robust analysis of broader economic and social reasons for change ... and even as history-by-personality, it is one dimensional and full of caricatures. Mountbatten is always "dashing", the masses "unruly", Jinnah "cold and austere", etc etc. A very superficial and unobjective book, which is disappointing but probably explains why it sold so many copies. There is not enough space to set out the numerous misconceptions in the book, suffice to say, don't let this be your only source.

A very well presented perspective (8/10 people found this helpful)

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 independence in the Indian subcontinent.

This book, however, is naturally biased towards British views - but clearly, the authors seek to understand the Indian view and present it in a very readable and interesting way.

I highly recommend this book to people interested in Indian studies or people who are generally drawn by India. 'Freedom at Midnight' provides a unique and rare colection of things you always wanted to know more about.

How balanced? (10/13 people found this helpful)

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.

A Brilliant recount on what actually happened. (5/9 people found this helpful)

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 much much clearer as to what actually happened. The assassintion of the father of the nation, "Bapu," and the events that led up to it, are very well researched as well as the conflicts on Kashmir.

Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre

Reader Reviews:

Excellent book (5/9 people found this helpful)

Not at all a book for intelligent or informed readers (27/33 people found this helpful)

A very well presented perspective (8/10 people found this helpful)

How balanced? (10/13 people found this helpful)

A Brilliant recount on what actually happened. (5/9 people found this helpful)

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