Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire

This is an accurate historical account of two men and a woman who played a pivotal part in the forming of India as an independent nation on August 15, 1947. The book focuses, in equal measure, on Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Edwina Mountbatten; Gandhi, Patel, Jinnah, and others make up the periphery. A far more in-depth and some may say engaging account of the birth of India is provided in Freedom at Midnight, by Lapierre and Collins. This account by Ms. Tunzelmann is more pedantic and historical. I have always held that by far, the most complex character in the Indian freedom movement is Nehru. Even though he is always overshadowed by his more famous mentor, Gandhi, it is Nehru who laid the seeds of a secular democracy in India. It was his vision and his intellect that catapulted India shortly after independence. Clearly anyone who has heard Nehru's "A tryst with destiny" speech cannot remain unmoved -- the choice of words, the construction of sentences, the impassioned delivery ... it simply inspires awe. Oddly enough, the book makes no mention of this most famous of his speeches. The book does, however, trace the romance between Nehru and Lady Edwina Mountbatten to a degree greater than I have ever read before. More specifically, the book provides an insight into why Lord Mountbatten allowed, and may even have encouraged, the affair. Lord Mountbatten himself is presented at various times as a bumbling fool and at others as an astute statesman who foresaw with great prescience that Britain could not continue to keep the most important of the dominions they possessed, and in fact, he battled Churchill for the independence of India. Ms. Tunzelmann also discusses the creation of Pakistan; she leaves open to interpretation whether or not Jinnah wielded the Pakistan stick as a leverage and lost. Regardless, as the subcontinent was divided, the ensuing Partition witnessed the greatest mass migration in the history of the world: almost 18 million found themselves on the wrong side of the line drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe. As these people crossed the borders, ghastly tales of religious intolerance took the lives of 3.4 million people -- 3.4 million! I believe that a great failing of the Indian state is that it has not preserved the memory, as painful as it may be, of the Partition for future generations. When the state of Israel was established -- also around 1947 -- the Jews were unanimous in the belief that the Holocaust and its remains must be preserved to imbue the futility of intolerance into future generations. Alas, there are precious few such displays to mark the Indian Partition, which means that the new generation remains to a large extent unaware of the extreme sacrifices made by a previous generation to secure the future of the next one.

This book delivered a wonderfully succinct and architectural introduction about the origins of England's conquest of India, that insightfully sets the stage for any reader. Then it delves into engaging and evolutionary narratives on the key characters - Mountbatton, Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi and others. Starting from their roots in youth, Alex Von Tunzelmann, doesn't just give mere historical account but offers the richness of their developing minds and beliefs, without tapering their flaws, to bring the reader to a better understanding how these men and women each played their roles in the liberation of India. I've only read some Gandhi-centric books about this period beforehand. I feel I have a more balanced and diversified grasp now from which I could choose to focus on multiple aspects as my interest leads me. An amazing time, on both eastern and western fronts - this book binds it all together very well and the writing style is such a joy to read. Great job Alex, I'm now a fan and I look forward to your next one! I highly recommend this book.

I attended a book signing event on the 13th November 2007 in Brighton were the author talked about the complexities of writing such an epic in which she looked at the dynamics that bought about the fall of an Empire and the most unlikely love story ever not to be reported by the press, that of Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The book is surprisingly good, I have to confess I didn't have high hopes when I purchased it but the subject is of such interest to me I was willing to take a chance and buy it and I am glad I did. Ms Von Tunzleman has a written a book that has obviously been researched extensively, both here in the UK and also in India and her candid no nonsense approach to all the subjects she touches, such as Hindu and Muslim hostilities, Mahatma Gandhi's strange predilections that made people both love and hate him, to the fate of the dispossessed, the love story between Nehru and Edwina makes it very interesting to read to the point that you can't put it down. For a historian Ms Von Tunzleman has made this book very accessible to the ordinary reader, she goes into great detail but she is never boring as she explains how India became a British Empire and how when it finally crumbled into dust, it did so, so swiftly that no one, least of all the British were prepared for the backlash that was to follow. A superb book with many photos of an era that depicts two nations in transition, India the Jewel in the Crown striking out on its own and Great Britain, suddenly realising that its days as the greatest Empire in the world have come to an end, not so much a tragedy as the inevitability of change in a world flinging of the chains of colonial paternalism.

Focusing mostly on the people -- British and Indian -- who were involved in the Indian drive for independence from Great Britain, "Indian Summer" goes a long way toward explaining the motives and interactions of the prime players in this great political drama. Highly recommended.

It was clear that Britain could not afford empire. The Jewel had to go. Unfortunately, what held it in place was Britain. And Britain didn't have that much of a clue as to how/where to split it up. Thus, diffidence dictated that it be done as close to ethnic/religious lines as possible, and the state of the British economy, as hastily as possible. Indeed they could have borrowed words from Louis XV ".... apres mois, le deluge." Let the natives sort out their mess. No one more diffident to see it through than Lord Mountbatten. But, did it have to be so bloody messy? It seems that Mountbatten's personal haste brought about all that criminal waste. But who knows the extent to which it would have been less so a year later. This is history from the top down, which probably is at it should be given the events it chronicles. It focuses squarely on the Mountbattens, the Nehrus, Gandhi and Jinnah. The British Parliament may have decided, but these people pulled the triggers that gave us India, a precariously and maladroitly drawn Pakistan (which later begat Bangladesh), and a festering Kashmir (of course, part of India today, but remember the Sikhs?)which to this day hovers perilously between two atomic powers. This is a most valuable and amusing book about a critical juncture in the history of the modern world, or perhaps one should say, the dissolution of the Old. Alex von Tunzelmann (an attractive young woman, not a Teuton scribe) has navigated treacherous historical waters with clarity, restraint, and even humor. Her text is a delight to read, even when a light touch is called upon, it is never glib but one born from deeply informed judgment. Particularly warm and engaging is the view of Edwina Mountbatten, for me a somewhat melancholy figure. There was just so much she couldn't do. She was quite a lady; learning about her is worth the price of admission. Highly recommended.