Alex Von Tunzelmann Indian Summer

Indian Summer

Alex Von Tunzelmann

Henry Holt, Aug 2007, $30.00

ISBN: 9780805080735

The aftermath of WW II reverberated around the globe at midnight on August 15, 1947, when the British Empire for practical purposes ended. Although some colonies remained in the fold, the crown jewel India was freed. Four hundred million people gained their liberty, but perhaps one million died in the ensuing fighting to carve out segments of the subcontinent and many more millions were exiled as ethnic cleansing took hold from Kashmir to Pakistan to India to the Sikh region.

The key players on the world stage were English diplomat Louis Mountbatten, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Islamic League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the ever presence of the mythical Mohandas Gandhi. Alex von Tunzelmann provides the epic picture, but uses that as background to enable readers to get inside and personal with those critical leaders who history books paint heroically, but the author places them under a microscope revealing their flaws as well as their more known strengths. Whereas Gandhi served as a moral example to emulate, he allowed no grays or compromise as the Muslims and Sikhs learn first hand. Whereas Jinnah helped create East and West Pakistan as a viable but geographically split nation, he wanted nothing to do with the British or the Hindi so he also ignored the poverty of what would later become independent Bangladesh. Mountbatten thought he was a great diplomat but his issues were flag designs while people died on the streets and his much more capable spouse had a tryst with Nehru, Ghandi's son-in-law and moral heir apparent. Historical readers will enjoy this deep look at "The Secret History of the End of an Empire" as those placed on pedestals find their statues somewhat crumbling under Ms. Von Tunzelmann's somewhat titillating review.

Harriet Klausner