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Madhusree Mukerjee

Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II Hardcover – August 10, 2010

by Madhusree Mukerjee (Author)

4.5 311 ratings

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A dogged enemy of Hitler, resolute ally of the Americans, and inspiring leader through World War II, Winston Churchill is venerated as one of the truly great statesmen of the last century. But while he has been widely extolled for his achievements, parts of Churchill’s record have gone woefully unexamined. As journalist Madhusree Mukerjee reveals, at the same time that Churchill brilliantly opposed the barbarism of the Nazis, he governed India with a fierce resolve to crush its freedom movement and a profound contempt for native lives. A series of Churchill’s decisions between 1940 and 1944 directly and inevitably led to the deaths of some three million Indians. The streets of eastern Indian cities were lined with corpses, yet instead of sending emergency food shipments Churchill used the wheat and ships at his disposal to build stockpiles for feeding postwar Britain and Europe.

Combining meticulous research with a vivid narrative, and riveting accounts of personality and policy clashes within and without the British War Cabinet, Churchill’s Secret War places this oft-overlooked tragedy into the larger context of World War II, India’s fight for freedom, and Churchill’s enduring legacy. Winston Churchill may have found victory in Europe, but, as this groundbreaking historical investigation reveals, his mismanagement—facilitated by dubious advice from scientist and eugenicist Lord Cherwell—devastated India and set the stage for the massive bloodletting that accompanied independence.

Print length

332 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

August 10, 2010
Grade level

11 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

9780465002016
ISBN-13

978-0465002016
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Misremembered as a placid imperial bastion during WWII, India was in fact racked by famine and insurrection, according to this searching history. Mukerjee (The Land of Naked People) surveys a country seething with violence, as Congress Party militants agitating for independence turned to rioting and assassination campaigns after bloody police crackdowns, and an army of Indian guerrillas fought alongside the Japanese against the British. The author's centerpiece is a chronicle of the 1943 Bengali famine, in which at least 1.5 million died while British authorities continued exporting Indian grain. She blames the disaster on British policy, which, she argues, sought to extract as much war production and food as possible from India while printing money to pay for it; the resulting inflation priced food beyond the reach of the poor. Mukerjee sets her well-researched chronicle amid heartbreaking scenes of starvation, bloodshed, and pungent portraits of Winston Churchill and his advisers as studies in racial disdain and deluded imperial nostalgia. This gripping account of a historical tragedy is a useful corrective to fashionable theories of benign imperial rule, arguing that a brutal rapaciousness was the very soul of the Raj. Maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Ramachandra Guha, author of India after Gandhi
“Winston Churchill’s dislike of India and Indians has been known to scholars. But now, in Churchill’s Secret War, we have, for the first time, definitive evidence of how a great man’s prejudices contributed to one of the most deadly famines in modern history. In her book, Madhusree Mukerjee writes evocatively of how hunger and rebellion in rural Bengal was a product of cynicism and callousness in imperial London. Deeply researched and skillfully constructed, this is a major contribution to Indian history and to the history of the Second World War.”

Mike Davis, Professor of Creative Writing at University of California–Riverside
“An epic indictment of British policies that cold-bloodedly caused the death of millions of ordinary Indians during the Second World War. With impeccable research, Mukerjee debunks the conventional hagiography of Churchill, showing ‘the last imperialist’s’ monstrous indifference to the peoples of the sub- continent.”

“[Mukerjee’s] main point comes through persuasively…never has anything quite this persuasive demonstrated how devastating for the world were Churchill’s personal failings.”
The Independent (UK)“Mukerjee has researched this forgotten holocaust with great care and forensic rigor…Her calmly phrased but searing account of imperial brutality will shame admirers of the Greatest Briton and horrify just about everybody else.
Sunday Times (UK)“[A] significant and – to British readers – distressing book…the broad thrust of Mukerjee’s book is as sound as it shocking.”
Washington Times“Churchill’s Secret War is a disturbing read, and one that I recommend.” Time“Madhusree Mukerjee’s new book, Churchill’s Secret War, reveals a side of Churchill largely ignored by the West and considerably tarnishes his heroic sheen…Mukerjee’s book depicts a truth more awful than any fiction.” Time Out for Entertainment“Mukerjee makes [her] points with a skill and scholarship that are convincing, making the reader see an episode of World War II with new eyes and new sympathy.”

John Horgan, Director, Center for Science Writings, Stevens Institute of Technology
“Churchill's Secret War is a major work of historical scholarship, which reveals that one of the 20th century's greatest heroes was also one of its greatest villains. Mukerjee's elegant, precise prose and meticulous research make her tale of colonial brutality all the more gripping and horrific.”

Kirkus
“An important though uncomfortable lesson for readers who think they know the heroes and villains of World War II.”

Publishers Weekly
““[W]ell-researched…This gripping account of historical tragedy is a useful corrective to fashionable theories of benign imperial rule, arguing that a brutal rapaciousness was the very soul of the Raj.”
Providence Journal“A clearly written and well-researched study…Mukerjee writes with a careful hand, avoiding an easily dismissible rant and smartly allowing Churchill’s closet advisors to color in the dark details.”

Roll Call“Mukerjee’s work is an important tool in repudiating the dominant legacy of Churchill.”
Indian Express (India)

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0465002013
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (August 10, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 332 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780465002016
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465002016
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 11 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,692,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,541 in India History
- #2,254 in Asian Politics
- #3,035 in European Politics Books

Customer Reviews:
4.5 311 ratings

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ALBERTO NAVARRO

CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

EXCELLENT TEN STARS !
FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN MADE TO BELIEVE THAT WINSTON CHURCHILL HAS BEEN A HERO,
BUT THIS BOOK WRITTEN BY MADHUSREE MUKERJEE DEMYSTIFY THIS, HIS ACTION DURING
WORLD WAR TWO IN INDIA, IN WHICH THREE MILLIONS PERISHED IN A FAMINE ( ESPECIALLY
IN THE BENGAL REGION), SHOWS THAT CHURCHILL WAS ONE OF THE MOST EVIL FIGURES IN
THE TWENTY CENTURY NOT DIFFERENT THAN HITLER, STALIN, MAO AND CASTRO.
THE BRITISH COLONIZATION IN INDIA COULD BE DESCRIBED AS A PUNISHMENT; AS THE AUTHOR
POINTS OUT BENGAL ( TODAY BANGLADESH), WAS A PROSPEROUS COUNTRY BEFORE THE
BRITISH CAME IN THE LATE EIGHTEEN CENTURY, INDIA ITSELF WAS RULED BY THE MOGULS
WHO HAVE SHORTCOMINGS AND ACHIEVEMENTS, THE HINDUS AND MOSLEMS COEXISTED,
ALL OF THESE CAME TO AN END WHEN THE BRITISH TOOK OVER, FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY
THE COUNTRY WAS RAVAGED, THERE WERE PERIODS OF FAMINE, IN FACT THE BEGINNING OF
THE COLONIZATION STARTED WITH A FAMINE.
THE COLONIAL RULE SOWED ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS, THAT HAVE LEFT AFTER 1947, THE YEAR
OF THE INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION ;A LEGACY OF INTERCOMMUNAL VIOLENCE THAT PERSISTS
TO THIS DAY IN ALL SOUTH ASIA.
THE YEAR 1943 WAS THE WORST, IN SPITE THAT THE STOCKPILES WERE PLENTY OF FOOD THEY WERE
DELIBERATELY WITHHELD FROM THE BENGAL POPULATION WITH THE EXCUSE THAT IT WAS NEEDED
FOR THE WAR, THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT THAT INDIA WAS THE MAIN SOURCE NOT ONLY IN MATERIAL
RESOURCES BUT IN TROOPS FOR THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR NOT FOR ITSELF BUT ON BEHALF
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, STILL CHURCHILL REGARDED THE INDIANS ESPECIALLY THE HINDUS WITH
THE UTMOST DISRESPECT.
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS HEADED BY MAHATMA GHANDI AND JAWAHARAL NEHRU ACTED
WITH PATRIOTISM AND LOVE FOR THEIR COUNTRY BY NOT COOPERATING WITH THE COLONIAL
AUTHORITIES IN THE WAR EFFORT AS OPPOSED TO THE COMMUNISTS THAT WERE SERVILE TO THE
SOVIET IMPERIALISM ( CHURCHILL AND STALIN WERE ALLIES AT THAT TIME) ; HOWEVER THE
GREATEST OF ALL THE INDIAN PATRIOTS AND I WILL ADD THE QUINTAESSENTIAL OF PATRIOTISM AND
LOVE AND DEDICATION FOR HIS COUNTRY WAS THE NATIONALIST LEADER SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE,
LEADER OF THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY FROM 1943 TO 1945 ( IT WAS FOUNDED
IN 1942 BY MOHAN SINGH) , THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY (INA) FOUGHT VALIANTLY AND CORAGEOUSLY ALONGSIDE THE JAPANESE ARMY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA; IN SPITE THAT THEY NEVER
ENTERED INDIA THEIR STRUUGGLE WITH BOSE AT THE HEAD SERVED AS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE INDIAN
PEOPLE TO THROW OUT THE YOKE OF BRITISH COLONIALISM AFTER WORLD WAR TWO.
THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY WAS COMPOSED OF HINDUS, MOSLEMS AND SIKHS, THEY WERE UNITED
UNDER THE BANNER OF INDEPENDENCE, ALL OF THEM FELT PART OF THE INDIAN NATION REGARDLESS
OF THEIR RELIGION IN CONTRAST TO THE DIVISIVE AND SECTARIAN POLICIES OF THE COLONIAL AUTHORITIES.

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Truth will out?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 5, 2010

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Whoever proclaims that he will be judged kindly in history because he intends to write it must surely be a man that cannot be trusted. Churchill had wilfully ensured, by his conduct, and unavoidably, by his appearance, that he will be likened to a bulldog. His admirers also likened him to a lion (probably the only kind native to England). Although his leadership in the Second World War was clearly vital to England, some may not agree. The Americans occasionally have their reservations in this regard (see Mukerjee). A war-time prime minister probably required qualities that might not be appropriate in a prime minister in peace-time. M Mukerjee has written what seems to be a well-researched book on Churchill's darker side. "Winston Churchill's true love was war, and it took precedence over such dreary matters as colonial economics" she wrote. Has she made a case? That should be left to the reader. This was a fine, evocative book without appearing to be so. Churchill's prejudice against Asians and contempt for the colonies was made abundantly clear without hyperbolic descriptions. Some blame might be attributed to the "goad", Lord Cherwell who was so right-wing he could have made Churchill appear left. "Those who succeed in getting what everyone wants must be the ablest" she quoted Cherwell as saying. Lord Cherwell also thought the masses to be "very stupid" and advocated a tough attitude to homosexuals and criminals who, he was convinced, ought to be treated harshly (Mukerjee wrote "cruelly") because "the amount of pleasure derived by other people from the knowledge that a malefactor is being punished far exceeds in sum total the amount of pain inflicted on the malefactor by his punishment."

Churchill was perhaps a vain egomaniac and a patriot in that order. That left no place in his mind or heart for the colonies and their natives. Even his determination to recapture Singapore from the Japanese was actuated by the thought that it was "the only prize that will restore British prestige in this region." The thrust of Mukerjee's book was the detailed account of the famine in Bengal in 1943. She set out a riveting narrative of the conditions that led to it; the stance taken by the British government, and more critically, the conduct of the British cabinet (led by that leonine prime minister) and administration, that resulted in a horrific tragedy in which millions died of a famine that could have been averted. Mukerjee added personal accounts of the people who suffered or had witnessed the suffering, into her narrative.

It's fair to say that Winston Churchill was not only a sturdy war-time prime minister but also a fine prose writer. For his effort in writing "history" Churchill was eventually awarded the Nobel Prize - for literature. Perhaps he didn't fool all the people after all.

31 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Sujoy Bhattacharyya

Book about how racism killed 3 million people and the perpetrator is WW II's greatest hero

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

Hope this book helps view Churchill's legacy in a more balanced light. He is not the great hero that most people think. The reality is more complex.

One person found this helpful

Nick D Kenyon

Five Stars

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on December 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

Suspected he was a B....rd.

N Rameshwar Ravi

I first heard of the great famine in Bengal from him

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on July 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

My father joined the Royal Air Force in 1943 and at the age of 18 passed through Kolkata on his way to the Burma front in Manipur. I first heard of the great famine in Bengal from him. He was moved by the misery and helplessness of the people, but did not quite understand then, that his masters were the one's who had created the problem. Madhusree's book is extremely well researched and presented coherently. The introduction chapter flows well and sets the tone for the rest of the book. As an individual reader, I was overwhelmed by the details of depredation of our people of Bengal. This reducing , a once thriving people to rank penury, poverty, hunger, alongwith collapse of their gentle nature and structures of good society, must rank as one of the largest human rights violation in human history. I had to put the book aside every now and then as I could only take that mush misery at a time. Indian history is coming of age and our educational institutions should take note.

40 people found this helpful

Rashmit M.

A fantastic detail on the evils of a man dubbed hero

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on November 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

History has mostly dubbed , Churchill , Stalin and Roosevelt as heroes and Churchill (especially after the latest movie 'the darkest hour's' success) particularly was considered a hero . However for 1940s India , Churchill and Hitler weren't a whole lot different

In fact , for much of India , Hitler was a foreign monster in a foreign land , committing atrocities on a foreign community , Churchill and the British Empire were the big bad monsters at home , killing them after the torture of taxations , Starvations , rapes , and mass shootings .

Ms. Mukharjee's book details the attrocities committed by British Empire , the callousness shown by Churchill when it came to India , and she does it all citing sources to back her claims .

The main focus of the book obviously deals with Churchill , Bengal famine and everything related to it , however other atrocities are also depicted in detail .

The gruesomeness feels too real and really pulls the emotional distress beacon in every fibre of my body as a reader . However sometimes this gruesomeness also feels too heavy and makes you want to stop reading .

For every history enthusiast who wants to learn more and question the "History is written by the Victor" idiom , this is a must read

20 people found this helpful

Jurgen Berg

Churchill and his fake Image

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on January 4, 2019

Verified Purchase

Very important and good Book!
Not many books dare to write the true facts about the "mythological" person Churchill.
He has been voted as the "Greatest British" person.

But it's not unknown that he really was one of the greatest Warmongers and Racist in History. 'On the good side', he was also foolish enough to ruin the British Empire forever. He hoped to save the glory of the British Empire but never realised that in this case Roosevelt was his biggest enemy. And as far as the successful world-power USA is concerned, their wars haven't ended since 1945.

15 people found this helpful

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