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Independence Day 2020: Books about India's freedom struggle we should read

TNN | Last updated on - Aug 14, 2020, 19:49 IST

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Books every Indian should read

This August 15, as we celebrate India's 74th Independence Day let us take this opportunity to learn something new about our country and how we gained independence. Here are some of the best books which offer readers insight into that tricky time.

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'Jallianwala Bagh, 1919: The Real Story' by Kishwar Desai

This book is written by Kishwar Desai almost a 100 years after the brutal massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, where many people who had gathered to peacefully protest against the British Empire were shot dead. Though it has been a century since then, Punjab and the people there are still recovering from the shocking incident. In this book, Desai reconstructs the events of that crucial day and analysis General Dyer’s actions. 'Jallianwala Bagh, 1919: The Real Story' was published by Context in 2018.

(Photo: Context)

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'An Era of Darkness' by Shashi Tharoor

Dr Tharoor's explosive book, backed with heavy research, acuity, and his sparkling wit, reveals how cataclysmic the British rule had been in India. He examined the many ways in which the colonizers exploited our country, drained all our national resources and shipped them to Britain, and also examines how untrue all the statements that claim that the British Raj had brought about significant benefits for the countrymen. 'An Era of Darkness' seeks to correct all such misconceptions about India's colonial past, and is a book that accurately portrays our history without any tinge of empirical supremacy.
Image: Aleph Book Company

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'Remnants of a Separation' by Anchal Malhotra

Shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2018, 'Remnants of a Separation' is an immaculately researched book that attempts to revisit Partition through unceremonious, everyday objects carried across the border. Aanchal Malhotra, an oral historian specializing in memory and material culture, discovers the stories adorning the items that are embedded in the memory of a time and place, latent and undisturbed for generations. These objects -- a string of pearls, a notebook of poems, a maang-tikka, a refugee certificate -- tell fascinating stories of their owners and their pasts and illustrate the struggle, sacrifice, pain and belonging at a tumultuous moment in history.
Image: HarperCollins

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'Patriots, Poets and Prisoners'

An anthology of articles from The Modern Review, edited by members of Ramananda Chatterjee's (The Founder) family, this book shows us the opinion of several important figures of the time on the topics that matter even today. The Modern Review emerged as a platform for debates on nationalism, patriotism, history and society and many important leaders of the freedom movement contributed to it. The book has a fascinating introduction written by historian Ramachandra Guha.
Image: HarperCollins

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' Anandamath' by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

This book was among those earliest pieces of literature that fuelled the fire of imagination of the nationalists and became a sacred treatise of freedom struggle. Set against the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion in the 18th century, it is among the most important novels of Indian and Bengali Literature. It was banned by the British government, which was lifted only after Independence.
Image: Oxford University Press

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'India's Struggle for Independence' by Bipan Chandra

While many books have been written around the freedom struggle, the special thing about Bipin Chandra's book is that it is not only an unbiased account of the movement but also covers its progress throughout India. It is that one book which gives you a complete and detailed account of the independence movement, sans any bias or taint. The book begins with India's first war of Independence and covers the entire movement pan India with a special and interesting account of Gandhi-Subhash relationship and turn of events that follow.
Image: Penguin Random House

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India Wins Freedom by Abul Kalam Azad

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was not just a prominent leader of the national movement, but also an eminent scholar who gave an insider's view of the freedom struggle in his book. His accounts are graphic and one feels empathetic towards the men, women and leaders who participated in this gigantic struggle. His description of the Khilafat Movement and the Satyagraha movement of which he was a participant are vivid and mesmerizing.
Picture Credit: Orient BlackSwan

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Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

Written in 1975, this book went on to become one of the most popular accounts of India's struggle for independence. It captures the last years of British rule, dwells upon the impact of the British decision to quit India on the princely states, the politics and bloodshed around partition and ends with the death of the Mahatama. The authors present a detached and unbiased account.
Picture Credit: Vikas Publishing House

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'The Great Partition' by Yasmin Khan

With Independence came partition and it promised political and religious freedom. But in its name families were torn apart, people were killed in the name of religion and thousands of women were raped. Yasmin Khan looks at the partition through eyewitness accounts and tries to piece together the story. She exposes the widespread obliviousness to what partition would entail in practice and how it would affect the populace. This book includes new information about the events with a fresh insight.
Picture Credit: Yale University Press

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'Makers of Modern India' by Ramachandra Guha

This book contains the work of 19 of India's foremost generators of political sentiment. This book tells us of the complexity of our democracy and teaches us about the many activists and thinkers that it has seen in its many years of existence; from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and even Dr. Ambedkar and their efforts and thoughts towards our nation to lesser known activists who also fought to bring about a just political system in our country. It gives detailed information on these significant figures who fought for what we call the Modern India. It also talks about themes like race, caste, religion, language, gender, nationality and the like which affect our nation.
Image: Penguin India

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'His Majesty's Opponent' by Sugata Bose

This is a definitive biography of the revered Subhas Chandra Bose. He struggled all his life to free India from British rule. His patriotism was, and is, inspiring though his means are considered controversial, both nationally and internationally across time. This biography is based on family archives and is both intimate and global in significance.
Image: Penguin Random House

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'India: A Portrait' by Patrick French

Historian and scholar Patrick French's 'India: A Portrait' follows how India evolved and emerged from its tumultous past, and the struggle for independence to become a dynamic democracy with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The book shows how French travelled all over the country and interviewed everyone from political leaders to mafia dons, from chained quarry workers to self-made billionaire entrepreneurs, to tell the story of post-independence India as never before.
Image: Penguin Random House

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