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An extraordinary story of romance, history, and divided loyalties -- set against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century
The stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, Britain ceased to be a superpower, and its king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator.
This defining moment of world history had been brought about by a handful of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India. Within hours of the midnight chimes, their dreams of freedom and democracy would turn to chaos, bloodshed, and war.
Behind the scenes, a secret personal drama was also unfolding, as Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru began a passionate love affair. Their romance developed alongside Cold War conspiracies, the beginning of a terrible conflict in Kashmir, and an epic sweep of events that saw one million people killed and ten million dispossessed.
Steeped in the private papers and reflections of the participants, Alex von Tunzelmann's Indian Summer reveals, in vivid, exhilarating detail, how the actions of a few extraordinary people changed the lives of millions and determined the fate of nations.
- Sales Rank: #153373 in Books
- Brand: Alex Von Tunzelmann
- Published on: 2008-09-30
- Released on: 2008-09-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.22" h x 23.62" w x 5.54" l, .93 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 512 pages
- Indian Summer The Secret History of the End of an Empire
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The transfer of power from the British Empire to the new nations of India and Pakistan in the summer of 1947 was one of history's great, and tragic, epics: 400 million people won independence, and perhaps as many as one million died in sectarian violence among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In her scintillating debut, British author von Tunzelmann keeps one eye on the big picture, but foregrounds the personalities and relationships of the main political leaders—larger-than-life figures whom she cuts down to size. She portrays Gandhi as both awe inspiring and, with his antisex campaigns and inflexible moralism, an exasperating eccentric. British viceroy Louis Dickie Mountbatten comes off as a clumsy diplomat dithering over flag designs while his partition plan teetered on the brink of disaster. Meanwhile, his glamorous, omnicompetent wife, Edwina, looks after refugees and carries on an affair with the handsome, stalwart Indian statesman Nehru. Von Tunzelmann's wit is cruel—Gandhi... wanted to spread the blessings of poverty and humility to all people—but fair in its depictions of complex, often charismatic people with feet of clay. The result is compelling narrative history, combining dramatic sweep with dishy detail. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The end of the British Raj remains a controversial topic among historians. Could partition have been avoided if British and Indian politicians were more prudent? Could the communal violence that cost up to a million lives have been avoided or at least mitigated? Although Von Tunzelmann touches on these questions, she does not attempt to answer them, but perhaps those answers are beyond the scope of this general history of the closing years of British control. Instead, she provides an interesting look at the key players in this tumultuous period. Despite the title, there are no startling revelations here. But Von Tunzelmann's portrayals of Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi, and Louis Mountbatten are often provocative and at odds with more conventional views. Gandhi, for example, is seen as rather rigid, sometimes petty, and maddeningly indecisive. Nehru, the giant of Indian nationalist aspirations, seems more British than the British themselves and distinctly uncomfortable as a leader of a mass movement. This is not a particularly comprehensive account, but for general readers, this work will be very valuable. Freeman, Jay
Review
“In ‘Indian Summer', Alex von Tunzelmann pays particular attention to how negotiations were shaped by an interplay of personalities. . . . her account, unlike those of some of her fellow British historians, isn't filtered by nostalgia.” ―The New Yorker
“A brilliantly vivid page-turner that captures the backstage dramas raging on the eve of India's independence.” ―Tina Brown
“Irresistible . . . A fascinating book that may well change how we look on the benighted world in which we live today.” ―Los Angeles Times
“[A] captivating group portrait, pulling forth the most telling details of each figure's inner life. . . . To have turned an era of such significance and continuing relevance into a page-turner, to both entertain and educate, is an admirable accomplishment.” ―San Francisco Chronicle
“A fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the breakup of British rule in India.” ―NPR's Fresh Air
“[Von Tunzelmann] keeps us riveted. . . . [She] has a fine knack for teasing out the play of personality in momentous events.” ―Houston Chronicle
“Von Tunzelman is witty, erudite, and thoughtful about her subject. . . . An opinionated and sardonic writer, [she] is perfectly willing to take on both saints and heroes.” ―The Christian Science Monitor
“Scintillating . . . compelling narrative history, combining dramatic sweep with dishy detail.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This is history as multiple, interconnected biography. . . . Indian Summer achieves something both simpler and rarer, placing the behavior and feelings of a few key players at the center of a tumultuous moment in history.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“Stirring . . . brisk . . . absorbingly readable.” ―Fortune
"“Indian Summer is a true tour de force: absorbing in its detail and masterly in the broad sweep of its canvas.” ―Sir Martin Gilbert, author of The Somme
“Indian Summer is outstandingly vivid and authoritative. Alex von Tunzelmann brings a lively new voice to narrative history-writing.” ―Victoria Glendinning, author of Leonard Woolf
“Alex von Tunzelmann is a wonderful historian, as learned as she is shrewd. But she is also something more unexpected: a writer with a wit and an eye for character that Evelyn Waugh would surely have admired.” ―Tom Holland, author of Rubicon and Persian Fire
“An engaging, controversial, very lively and, at times, refreshingly irreverent tour de force. Alex von Tunzelmann has written a dramatic story, laced with tragedy and farce, and done so very well; a remarkable debut.” ―Lawrence James, author of The Middle Class: A History and Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Good recap of Britain's divide and retreat
By R. L. Huff
Overall, Alex von Tunzelman's first book was a good retelling of the Nehru/Gandhi/Mountbatten/Jinnah axis in liberating and dividing colonial India. As she stated, in quoting Marx, a region already so riven by dynasties, race, religion, and class invited outside conquest. The British tried to impose a self-serving unity, which the Indian Congress Party attempted to turn to its advantage. The spoilers were, of course, Jinnah and Churchill, collaborating to sabotage a united India; one for political advantage, the other out of old fogy imperial spite.
The precedent for splitting India seems to have been Ireland in 1921, with the same bitter lessons following. Other period divisions arose out of the cold war: Korea and Vietnam also led to hot civil and international conflict; Germany almost so. India's partition was further proof that such divisions may lead to stability, but at great price in blood. Yugoslavia also testified such means do not justify the meager ends. That India has moved forward despite this birth pain is testimony to Nehru's legacy, not British foresight or goodwill.
Which brings me to the main clinker in von Tunzelmann's narrative, that withheld my fifth star. Her opening paragraph is a self-congratulating paean to a statesmanship that British readers love to believe about themselves, but had no basis in reality and can be refuted point by point. "The largest empire the world has ever seen" is a title most assuredly belonging to the US/NATO axis, not colonial Britain. Britain did not just "give up," and therefore broke no new historical ground, because it did not "fall onto its own sword," neither proudly nor majestically. Its crushing of the constitutional independence movement in British Guiana, the counter-insurgency terror in Kenya, the "Malayan" emergency, the intervention in Cyprus and Greece, the covert actions of MI6 around the globe, showed a continuing imperial mindset that tried mightily to plow the ground of the postwar world in its favor before turning it over to new owners; and largely succeeded. Even the claimed victory "in the century's definitive war" was owed to the US and USSR, without whom the United Kingdom would have been a Vichy Britain. And though Britain's "culture" may have been "strong and vibrant," its economy was anything but.
As to India proper, it was the Congress Party's "Quit India" movement of 1942-43, making India ungovernable, that - like terrorism in Palestine - dragged Britain most unwillingly into "the light of freedom." The very partition of India refutes von Tunzelmann's Jack-waving panegyric. Yet leaving aside her necessary bow to conventional wisdom to please the British reading public, she's provided a detailed and readably entertaining review of the so-called "shameful flight" from Britain's Jewel of Empire. A good prologue to her subsequent "Red Heat" Caribbean/cold war narrative.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Hard slogging but worth it in the end
By Earthy
I found this book very slow. For my taste there was too much unnecessary detail. I did find it well researched and I learned a lot about India’s history, demographics and politics, but for me it was hard slogging at times. I actually had to take a couple of breaks and read a lighter novel in between, but I was glad I finished it. I recommend it for its thoroughness and accuracy for those who want to learn about India’s independence movement, partition and the devastating after-effects - but this is not an easy read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Must read for those interested in the background of India's pre-independence going-ons, and how really India became independent
By Bonko
Heck of a book.
While centered mostly around Edwina Mountbatten, the book gives an excellent perspective of the going-ons in British India during that time.
strongly recommended read for someone interested in bits of quiet info on the royal family, Prince Philip, Nehru and a smattering of others as they muddled their way though the Raj and after India's independence.
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