Review: Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann

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Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an EmpireIndian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very intriguing book. It touches many corners of the last phase of the British Raj in India and the early 3-4 decades of Independent India. It will be a shock for many who look at Nehru or Jinnah from only one perspective. The author though mainly relied on the British Royal Archives for many references didn't miss the keynotes from other sources like the letters between Jinnah, Churchill, Atlee, Mountbatten, Nehru, Edwina, and others, and tried to stay neutral in narration to a larger extent. I feel this is one interesting history book that can be helpful in giving deep insights into where the partition of India went wrong, how the political differences between individuals can result in catastrophic communal clashes, and how leaders are perceived in a revolution. How the perceptions of mobs override the ideological standards of the leaders in a revolution making the leaders irrelevant.
Overall, the book is a good source for learning about different perspectives in the making of the newly independent India and Pakistan.

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