Larry Collins
paperback | Pages: 629 pages Rating: 4.32 | 8300 Users | 625 Reviews
Particularize Appertaining To Books Freedom at Midnight
| Title | : | Freedom at Midnight |
| Author | : | Larry Collins |
| Book Format | : | paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 629 pages |
| Published | : | May 4th 2001 by Vikas Publishing House (first published October 1975) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Cultural. India. Politics |
Rendition In Favor Of Books Freedom at Midnight
The end of an empire. The birth of two nations.Seventy years ago, at midnight on August 14, 1947, the Union Jack began its final journey down the flagstaff of Viceroy’s House, New Delhi. A fifth of humanity claimed their independence from the greatest empire history has ever seen—but the price of freedom was high, as a nation erupted into riots and bloodshed, partition and war.
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. The book was an international bestseller and achieved enormous acclaim in the United States, Italy, Spain, and France.
“There is no single passage in this profoundly researched book that one could actually fault. Having been there most of the time in question and having assisted at most of the encounters, I can vouch for the accuracy of its general mood. It is a work of scholarship, of investigation, research and of significance.”
—James Cameron, The New York Sunday Times
“Freedom at Midnight is a panoramic spectacular of a book that reads more like sensational fiction than like history, even though it is all true….. The narrative is as lively, as informative and as richly detailed as a maharaja’s palace.”
—Judson Hand, The New York Daily News
“Outrageously and endlessly fascinating is my awestruck reaction to Freedom at Midnight. The new sure-to-be bestseller by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. It is all here: maharajas and tigers, filth and squalor, extravagance and macabre sex, massacres, smells, starvation, cruelty and heroism. Collins and Lapierre have made human history breathtaking and heartbreaking.”
—Margaret Manning, The Boston Globe
“No subject, I thought, as I picked up Freedom at Midnight, could be of less interest to me than a story of how Independence came to India after three centuries of British rule. I opened the book and began to flip through the photographs: here was a picture of Gandhi dressed in his loincloth going to have tea with the King of England; there was a picture of a maharaja being measured against his weight in gold; and another of thousands of vultures devouring corpses in the street. I began to read, fascinated. Here was the whole chronicle illustrated with anecdotes and masterful character sketches of how the British had come to India, how they had ruled it and how, finally, compelled by the force of economics and history, they had been forced to leave it divided…… Collins and Lapierre are such good writers that their books are so interesting that they are impossible to put down.”
—J.M. Sanchez, The Houston Chronicle
Details Books In Pursuance Of Freedom at Midnight
| Original Title: | Freedom at Midnight: How Britain Gave Away an Empire |
| ISBN: | 8125904808 (ISBN13: 9788125904809) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | India Pakistan |
Rating Appertaining To Books Freedom at Midnight
Ratings: 4.32 From 8300 Users | 625 ReviewsCommentary Appertaining To Books Freedom at Midnight
There are enough reviews about the content of this book. I will provide my reactions1. I usually do not buy books, preferring to borrow from a library. I took this one from the library, but after reading it I ordered a copy for myself.2. It is a history book, encapsulating the one year in which India was made, unmade, and then remade. If my history books had been written by La pierre and Collins, I would have never taken up engineering3. Painstaking research usually results in unreadableOh dear. This book gets high marks from many reviewers for its easy reading, and whilst there are some nice rhetorical flourishes, they become overused to the point of cliche (if I never see the words 'Queen Victoria's great-grandson' again it will be too soon). If you want to read a romanticised hagiography of Mountbatten, or, if I'm being charitable, a version of the liberation of India as seen through Mountbatten's eyes: read this. If you want to read something that really gets to the heart
This is a well-researched, easy-to-read, even page-turning, history of the last days of the British Raj in 1947/8, the ill-handled partition creating an independent India and Pakistan, and the last days and death of Mohandas Gandhi. I thoroughly enjoyed it, being strongly moved by many of the events portrayed.
Brilliantly reported and written, this 1975 nonfiction book tells the story of the year India became an independent nation and the new nation of Pakistan was created. It covers all of 1947 and about a month of 1948, ending with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.Gandhi is, of course, a central character. Not having ever seen the movie and not having ever read a book about Gandhi, I learned a lot about him. He was certainly one of the giants of the 20th century.Among the other central characters
for those who believe that the movie gandhi tells the story of the Quit India movement and partion, please do your ancestors a favor and read this book. a less pretty display of human emotions at work...
A fascinating book. I knew that India and Pakistan had been partitioned, but I didn't know all the details of what happened and when. And it explains many cultural nuances with which I was not familiar. I didn't realize that part of the reason that Hindus hate Muslims so much is because many Muslims took up that religion because they were Hindu Untouchables who didn't want to wait for the next life to have a little say-so in what happened to them. The Hindus always considered Muslims unclean
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