The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence [Hardcover]

Anthony Read (Author), David Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

On the 50th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan comes a riveting account of the end of the Raj, the most romantic of all the great empires. British authors Anthony Read and David Fisher put the events of 1947 into perspective, telling the whole epic story in colorful detail from its beginning more than a century earlier. Their powerful narrative takes a fresh look at many of the events and personalities involved.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The birth of the Indian National Conference in 1885 served as the formal beginning to India's long struggle to evict the British. When independence finally arrived on August 15, 1947, India soon found itself fighting yet another enemy: itself. Without a solid blueprint from which to draw its own government and infrastructure, India's internal struggles meant enormous suffering for the population. As Anthony Read and David Fisher clearly point out, much of the turmoil resulted from the inability of Indian leaders to work in concert, pitting India and Pakistan against one another before they could even begin to celebrate their freedom. It's evident the authors find much to admire in India, but their evenhanded analysis prevents even a touch of the hagiographical; even the failings of the legendary Gandhi are expanded upon. Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, and the Muslim leader Jinnah are also skewered for their poor choices and lack of vision and leadership. In all fairness, the transition to democratic self-rule was no small task, particularly in regard to dealing fairly with the multiple ethnic and religious groups that abound in India, but the authors elaborate on the past sins of the Indian government, because it is within these failings that the true story of modern India is found. These long gazes into the past also help determine what the impact of the current crisis within the Congress Party may be now that Hindu nationalists and religious fundamentalists are in control.

From Library Journal

Although Britain's entire involvement in India is implied by this book's title, the British writing team of Read and Fisher (The Fall of Berlin, LJ 3/15/93) concentrate primarily on the period after the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885. Written for the general reader, their sweeping portrayal of the quest for independence at times seems more journalistic than historical. In contrast to most works on this topic, the authors treat Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, more favorably than Mahatma Gandhi, the founder of modern India. Unfortunately, some factual and spelling errors may cause problems for some readers. Libraries actively collecting general world histories may want to consider this work.ADonald Johnson, Univ. of Minnesota Lib., Minneapolis
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 565 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st U.S. Ed edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393045943
• ISBN-13: 978-0393045949
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Richly Detailed Story. . ., July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence (Hardcover)

Given that so much has been written on the movement towards independence already in the last few years, I came with skepticism to this book, given that neither of the authors had significant experience in Indian history before. This becomes clear in their research and writing, which at times seems to borrow too extensively from prior works and in effect surveys previous surveys. Nonetheless, The Proudest Day accomplishes one singular feat: it paints a coherent story of more than 60 years of struggle, full of coloured yet flawed personalities such as Jinnah and Gahndi and momentous occasions, from the Amritsar Massacre to the endgame hysteria after WWII. It gives form to what more than anything was a series of stop and goes over a half a century.

Much of the author's criticism of the main protagonists is not new. The myth of Gahndi's pacifism is debunked. In Nehru's uncompromising idealism, the authors lay the blame for eventual partition. Jinnah is the consumate lawyer, manipulating and playing with legal vagueries. But it is for Mountbatten and the Congress hard-liners that the harshest criticism is reserved. Partition comes down to one missed chance in the summer of 1946. Whether or not in the emotional-charged atmosphere of Indian-Pakistan history you accept this proposition, the authors succeed in leaving that bitter feeling in the reader's mind- that partition, the holocaust that ensued after August 1947 in Punjab, and years of ensuing conflict could have all been avoided even after 50+ years of heated struggle if only in that last instance, the main protagonists laid aside their prior histories, showed their courage and seized the moment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful and instructive overview of British India., August 18, 2000

By 

Kersi Von Zerububbel "Kersi" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence (Hardcover)

I am glad I bought this book. There is nothing new here for the reader well versed in the history of India. However, the language and presentation model is quite brisk and makes for a easy read. The material is fairly encompassing given that the purpose of the book is for the general reader. I found the narrative both interesting and fast moving. A good start for someone desiring to know present day India.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of Indian Independance Movements-Heroes and Pretend, February 5, 2002

By 

Jaggarao S. Nattama (Pearland, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence (Paperback)

An exellent book delaing with the Indian independence movement.
It starts with the British massacre of hundreds of Indians attending a peaceful meeting in Jallianwallah Bagh, which turned the tide and ends with division of of the subcontinent into Muslin Pakistan and more secular India and the loss of millions of lives on both sides of the devide during the ensuing riots, and the birth of the the Indepenedent India and Pakistan. The book colorfully portrays the charecters involved in the drama-the likes of Jinnah the father of modern Pakistan, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahrlal Nehru and Mountabatten their arrogance and vanity, Gandhi's apparent dislike of Jinnah from the very begining and his non-democratic management of the congress party. Jinnah was a secular muslim. In the begining it was not his intention to carve a seperate Islamic Pakistan from the Indian subcontinent. The dogmatic refusal to accept the Cripps Mission, whose offer of dominion status would have saved the division of the subcontinent and subsequent loss of millions of lives. The initial arrogance and later withdrawl of the British in a hurry without a great deal of thought resulting not only the worst religiously motivated riots, massive loss of lives and boarder problems between India and Pakistan. Only the common people of India emerge as the heroes in this book. It is a well researched thoughtfully written book and it should be read by any with an interest in the subcontinent.