History is written by the victors. In this case it is by those who won WWII and whitewashes the victors crimes against humanity. The Indians did not complain as it was the price for freedom, but more importantly never held malice against the English people that they love.
The criticism of this book is that it doesn’t read chronologically like a history book, nor does it present a time line. It expects the reader to have some knowledge of European colonial economic history, history of India, WWII history, and British history from 1600-1947. If you don’t have that, particularly some Indian history, then you might have some difficulty. This book does go in to detail about the elements which caused the famine and food denial. After 1947 there were no famines in India as central and state governments effectively addressed food shortages. It is documented by British records.
The ugly fact is that Churchill was a colonialist racist when it came non-Europeans. Yes, he did help win WWII in Europe, but at what human and moral cost? From 1941-1944 some 4 million Bengalis died from starvation as food and their livelihood was denied through the active denial program. Some have tried to blame provincial governments who had no control over interstate commerce, but that falls as flat as the holocaust deniers. The reality is the British government under Churchill ensured the loss of India as the “Jewel in the Crown” and had a better annual kill rate than the Nazis from 1941-1945 where over 5 million civilians were murdered.
Churchill kill rate = 1.33 million/year
Hitler kill rate = 1.28 million/year
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Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II Paperback – Illustrated, July 12, 2011
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Madhusree Mukerjee
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Madhusree Mukerjee
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Print length368 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherBasic Books
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Publication dateJuly 12, 2011
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Grade level11 and up
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Reading age13 years and up
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Dimensions6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
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ISBN-100465024815
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ISBN-13978-0465024810
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Madhusree Mukerjee won a Guggenheim fellowship to write her previous book, The Land of Naked People. She has served on the board of editors of Scientific American. She lives near Frankfurt, Germany.
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Product details
- Publisher : Basic Books; Illustrated edition (July 12, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0465024815
- ISBN-13 : 978-0465024810
- Reading age : 13 years and up
- Grade level : 11 and up
- Item Weight : 13.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
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Best Sellers Rank:
#551,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #146 in Historical India & South Asia Biographies
- #545 in India History
- #1,228 in Historical British Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
194 global ratings
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Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2017
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30 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2019
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I had a difficult time understanding the characters involved. My fault not the authors. I believe the author assumes a more informed reader.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018
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History is often written by the victors, but this account corrects the British version of Churchill's history.
This deeply researched account relates how the British behaviour in India during WW2 could be considered now as a war crime.
This deeply researched account relates how the British behaviour in India during WW2 could be considered now as a war crime.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2019
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Good concept but the content is not well organized. Could have been a good book if it were better laid out.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2020
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Well researched book
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2019
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His title still confuses me
2 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The truth about Churchill and the horrors inflicted on India by British imperialism.
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2017Verified Purchase
Excellent book on Churchill and the genocidal exploitation of India. Well-written and complete.
7 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2017
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Fantastic history. Brutal colonialism.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries
Sean Mc Gee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heartbreaking and tragic. Well written and researched. Throws ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2018Verified Purchase
Heartbreaking and tragic. Well written and researched. Throws new light on Churchill that needs to be considered alongside the airbrushed version of history that we learned at school.
8 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2018Verified Purchase
Very much an eye opener. darkness inside a great man. Wonderful to read. Look forward to more from this author.
6 people found this helpful
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N Rameshwar Ravi
4.0 out of 5 stars
I first heard of the great famine in Bengal from him
Reviewed in India on July 7, 2017Verified 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.
31 people found this helpful
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Rashmit M.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fantastic detail on the evils of a man dubbed hero
Reviewed in India on November 26, 2018Verified 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
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
14 people found this helpful
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Jurgen Berg
5.0 out of 5 stars
Churchill and his fake Image
Reviewed in India on January 3, 2019Verified 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.
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.
9 people found this helpful
Report abuse


