Hashim Kabeer

"freedom at midnight" is a non fiction history book by Lary collins and Dominique lapierre based on indian independence and its partitions.Although many books have been written on indian independence,it is noted to be the best seller all over the world.the major difference as compared to other works similar to this is the highlighting of the rare and small events which unknown to the world based on proper authentic documents.This book is not only a political history, it potrays all the faces of india that displays diversity in terms of history,religion,geography, culture, language, dress, colour and classes etc. This book is quite interesting to read and offers the readers wide range study and the detailed view of events which had happened around the chaotic year1947.commencing from the appointment of Lord louis francis mount baton and independenting india and its partition and the accession of princily States to indian Dominion and ended up with gandhi's murder.It took more than three years for thier impartial inquiry by travelling more than 300miles across indian continent from Khyber pass to st.george fort Madrass from the slum of Calcutta to the quiet villages of India contacting more than five hundred people related to this.When we look at this book the authors portray mount baton as the centre character as they could interact with him with authentic documents.More importantly it gives good insight to the 4 principl players, Ghandi, Jinnah, Nehru, and especially Mountbatten. The writers were well blessed that they had directly met with Mountbatten and had privilege to access many documents related to his role in the independence move. It delineates the amicable relation of lord mount baton and Mr.s baton with indian prominent leaders. The authors clearly admit the role of Mahatma gandhi and his stand,real ambition and how he bring out peace and harmony amidst giant strides of violations, and prolonged veiled threats of extremists.The authors win to portray how gandhi murdered? They clearly give us a detailed view to this dilemma. Here, the reason why india became independent at midnight is really Surprising.Not only that, here are some negative comments to this book, one is that some great personalities are omitted especially the role of Jinnah played for freedom struggle.