Freedom at Midnight
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Freedom at Midnight (1975) is a book by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. It describes the events in the Indian independence movement in 1947-48, beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last viceroy of British India, and ending with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi.
The authors having interviewed many of those who were there, including Lord Mountbatten, the book gives a detailed account of the last year of British India, the princely states' reactions to independence, the partition of India and Pakistan, and the bloodshed that followed. It also covers the events leading to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The book is a result of deeply scanned and researched events which often are left out by the historians. The maps of India and Pakistan were drawn on religious grounds by a man named Cyril Radcliffe who had never visited India in his life before being appointed as the chairman of the Boundary Commission. The book also explains the fury of both Hindus and Muslims, misled by their communal leaders, during the partition and the biggest mass slaughter in the history of India. One incident quoted is particularly terrifying: it describes a canal in Lahore that ran with blood and floating bodies.
Controversial for its portrayal of the British expatriates, the native rulers of India and members of India's first cabinet, it is a non-fiction book told in a casual style, similar to the authors' previous Is Paris Burning? and O Jerusalem!.
Collins and Lapierre also wrote a book about their researches with respect to Lord Mountbatten, titled Mountbatten and the Partition of India. This book contains interviews with Lord Mountbatten, and a selection of papers that were in his possession. The book mainly is a detailed portrayal of the various events, good and bad happening in India. The book, unlike others, reveals many stunning facts which would perhaps be never unearthed without an extensive research as the author. The most engrossing aspects of the book are the heart-rending portrayals of the religious carnage which occurred after the Partition. Another thing which makes it interesting is the highlight on the lives and the roles of the various insignificant monarchies scattered across British India. In all, this book is a complete documentation of the Indian political imbroglio at the time of Partition, and the helpless struggle of Mahatma Gandhi to save his country from Partition and from the clutches of his political foe, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and his final moments, which have been documented with frightful detail.
