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Title	:	Freedom at Midnight
Author	:	Larry Collins
Book Format	:	paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 629 pages
Published	:	May 4th 2001 by Vikas Publishing House (first published October 1975)
Categories	:	History. Nonfiction. Cultural. India. Politics

Freedom at Midnight

Larry Collins

paperback | Pages: 629 pages

Rating: 4.32 | 8300 Users | 625 Reviews

Relation In Pursuance 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

Describe Books To 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 About Books Freedom at Midnight

Ratings: 4.32 From 8300 Users | 625 Reviews

Evaluation About Books Freedom at Midnight

The best book ever written on the birth of Pakistan as a nation. If you watch the movie Gandhi, and read this book, you have pretty much got the history of the time covered and a good understanding of the politics of the time. Millions of people died when Hindus marched from the north and Muslims marched to the north. Some years ago, I had an Pakistani friend who showed a group of us some photos of his old school. "MY God," our mutual Indian friend exclaimed, "That school building is my family

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

This is the first book I always recommend to anyone wanting to understand India better. It covers the six months prior to and six months after 8/15/47, when India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain. So basically it starts with the decision to "Quit India" -- a decision made so suddenly and brazenly and devoid of conscience in its execution as to totally boggle the mind (and we still bear the fruits today, witness what's going on in Pakistan). And it ends with the assassination of

The composition of this book is such that you won't find it difficult to read through the pages, and the authors have weaved it with simple, yet strong literature. The way they have covered the whole period of Independence in over 650 pages is commendable, considering the fact that they have covered almost all the important events. The book boasts of an exhaustive research done in the library of Mountbatten, over dinners and back in India, which gives an impression that the book is true to the

This is a highly readable look at one pivotal year in the history of India: 1947, the year that marked the end of British rule and the partition of the subcontinent into two new nations, India and Pakistan. As an introduction to the topic it is hard to beat, but readers need to be aware of several limitations:1. It was written in 1975. All of the main players were dead with the exception of Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy.2. It was written in 1975. India and Pakistan were both hard at work

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.

If one isn't fond of non-fiction, I would suggest trying this one. Beautifully written to make stories from around the period of independence sound like a collection of creative short stories. Towards the long side, but worth the time. I learnt a lot about the independence struggle that I didn't know earlier. Feels like a TV series about that era.