62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Great Partition -- an excellent history, September 26, 2007
I bought this book after reading the positive review in The Economist. Khan does an excellent job showing the enormity and tragedy of Partition in people's lives -- more or less ignoring the diplomatic and political history that has been well covered in other works. History is always told with hindsight; Khan shows convincingly that while Partition was widely supported (and opposed), no one, not even the leaders who pushed it hardest had any understanding of what it would do to their country. Although there is an epilogue reflecting on the continued resonance of Partition today, the account ends in the immediate aftermath of partition. It left me wanting more -- a good sign. The book confirmed my conviction that modern nationalism is a folly that has cost humanity dearly. Anyone looking for a highly readable, thoroughly documented and moving account of the Partition of India and its human and social consequences should consider this book.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book on this subject accessible to the general reader, March 16, 2009
This review is from: The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan (Paperback)
I was born and brought up in India and I have a keen interest in South Asian history. Out of the 15 or so books on partition that I read (sometimes just skimmed through!), this book is undoubtedly the best. (Patrick French's book 'Liberty or Death' is also VERY good, but it covers lot of other issues- not just Partition and is quite long!).
If you have an appreciation for good English writing, this book will be a pleasure to read- but don't expect something that panders to popular stereotypes about India/South Asia or interesting anecdotes about eccentric Indian kings or leaders- this is a serious work of scholarship suitable only for the deeply interested casual reader. The author appears to be a first rate scholar who has a very impressive command over the subject matter- she sometimes manages to convey more in a couple of paragraphs than some other historians will do in entire chapters. I needed all my prior knowledge of Indian history to begin to understand how good this book really is! In the interest of brevity, I will mention only two major strengths of this book relative to other general accounts of the Partition of India.
1.This is history from the bottom up- instead of focusing on the discussions between leaders of the Indian National Congress, Muslim League and high ranking British officials leading up to the partition, the author concentrates on how the politics related to the partition played out on the streets of India- the fears, insecurities and expectations of the common people and how politicians sought to engage them. The majority of studies on Partition concentrate only on the 'elite politics' aspect- what Nehru, Jinnah or Mountbatten did or didn't do or say etc. Not that this is not important - but to really understand the positions taken by Nehru/Jinnah/Gandhi/Mountbatten and others- it is not enough to understand their personalities and their relationships- we also have to understand the broader social/political environment in which these positions were formed. The political decisions and actions of the major players cannot be understood in isolation- they become much more intelligible if you have a better understanding of the popular expectations, pressures and fears to which these leaders were compelled to respond. (This is probably particularly true of the Partition which became a highly emotive issue for many Hindus and Muslims/Sikhs during those times). In Yasmin Khan's book - this broader context, the evolving political situation in India in the late 1930's and early to mid 1940's is discussed with a richness and detail that is not equaled by any other book that I have read or heard about on the Partition of India- and this is a particular merit of this book.
2.Both Hindu and Muslim nationalists (who have a particular stake in distorting the history of partition for their own purposes) will find a lot to be angry about in this book- and this is a very good thing! I think this is a highly judicious account which is not biased towards the official Indian or Pakistani version of the history of partition (although- of course, many will disagree- which again is unsurprising!).
Overall, this is a relatively brief and exceedingly well written general history of the partition. (The overall tone of the writing is analytical
- but there is little unnecessary academic jargon and it is not very dry either).
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Commendable, succinct history, July 14, 2008
While many books demonize India or Pakistan in the blame game of partition, Yasmin Khan indicates there was a shared breakdown of Hindu and Muslim trust leading up to the event. This was exacerbated by the clumsy imposition of premature partition upon India and Pakistan by the British government. Without making clear what partition meant or how it would be implemented, fears were greatly magnified, leading to some of the worst civil violence in India-Pakistan history; a virtual state of ethnic cleansing existed, perpetrated by extremists on both sides in 1947. So there is plenty of blame to be passed around. Khan's book seems to do historical justice to the even without detectable Hindu or Muslim bias. His history is vividly descriptive, but sometimes shies away from the political details and power plays one might have wished he had explored further. Nonetheless I found it to be a succinct, commendable book on the event of India's partition.
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