India's Freedom Struggle
Winner of a state prize
from the Delhi Administration, India’s
Freedom Struggle is a brief and readable introduction to the
story of India’s struggle for freedom. Covering the ninety years from the Great
Revolt of 1857 to the attainment of independence in 1947, it deals with all
important events, movements and leaders, providing a concise overview of this
important period of India’s history.
Publisher’s description
This book is written as an introduction
for general readers as well as students who have only a hazy notion of how the
Indian Freedom struggle began and took shape between the Great Revolt of 1857
and the attainment of Independence in 1947. It is a brief and readable book on
the subject, an accessible narrative on a large historical period. Some of the
issues dealt with are the Khilafat and Non-co-operation movements, the
emergence of Mahatma Gandhi, the Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements,
the various constitutional negations with Wavell, Mountbatten et al., and the
Partition of India.
Reviews
The great merit of this book is its
simplicity. Mr. Heehs does not clutter up the text with unnecessary details. He
has picked up the more salient points of the 90-year struggle and dwelt upon
them briefly but effectively. There is a sense of continuity, an organic link
between one incident and another. . . . Extremely readable [the book] is also accurate
and shows an understanding of the Indian social and political milieu that is
uncanny.
M. V.
Kamath, The Economic Times (Mumbai)
To encapsulate the events of close on a
century in simple readable prose without losing sight of salient landmarks and
yet avoiding the pitfall of getting bogged down in details is no mean task for
a historian. Peter Heehs . . . has done just this.
The
Book Review (Delhi)
It has the essential virtues of its genre
in that it is written in a clear readable style. . . . Heehs’s appraisal of the
British record is inevitably critical, but not unbalanced. . . . One feels that
the book deserves a place in schools – in Britain as well as India.
M. A.
Laird, Asian Affairs (Hong
Kong)