An Indian Summer

The stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947 liberated 400 million Indians from the British Empire. One of the defining moments of world history had been brought about by a tiny number of people, including Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery prime minister-to-be; Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India without delay. Within hours of the midnight chimes, however, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror. INDIAN SUMMERdepicts the epic sweep of events that ripped apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and reveals the secrets of the most powerful players on the world stage: the Cold War conspiracies, the private deals, and the intense and clandestine love affair between the wife of the last viceroy and the first prime minister of free India. With wit, insight and a sharp eye for detail, Alex von Tunzelmann relates how a handful of people changed the world for ever.

James Cameron was no stranger to India when he travelled there with his wife in 1972. His work as journalist and his new family brought him a closer understanding of the country he already loved. He also met new people, travelled to unfamilar areas and witnessed the changes that Independence had brought. With this fresh eye he saw kindness and corruption, beauty and filth, impossible bureaucracy and profound humanity. This text tells of his experiences.

While spending a summer on an Iroquois reservation where her father is a doctor, Joni McCord lives with Sarah Birdsong, and the two girls try to put aside their differences and become friends. Reprint. AB. K. C.

New from popular author Susan K. Marlow

Under the shadow of the turbulent 1960s, this is my story of a journey through village India as an American Peace Corp Volunteer. I graduated college in 1966 with no idea of what I wanted to do in life. I asked the Peace Corps to send me to a place that was more different than anything I had ever known. I got what I asked for. India unfolded into a kaleidoscope of fascinating people and unforgettable scenes in a culture that never failed to amaze me. The sights, smells, and sounds of village India offer the backdrop of what happened, some stories quite incredible, but all true. After two years, I was infused with the spiritual and mystical quality that was, and still is, India--something that is almost beyond explaining. It cannot be found by touring India or even visiting an ashram, but only by living there, learning the local language, and being with Indians in their homes and work. Forty-four years after leaving the Peace Corps I returned to village India. Surprisingly, very little had changed. All of the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Vishwa Bharati non-profit village school in Anavatti, India; and to the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, to support students and faculty in visiting India.

The guilt of our childhood can haunt us for decades. Twenty years ago, a childhood tragedy drove six friends apart. But when one of them is found dead in the historic, wooded ruins of the New England settlement known as Dogtown, old acquaintances find themselves drawn together. Now they must work together to solve the meaning behind a message written in blood, a series of attacks, and the mysterious quills that seem to tie them all together. But time is quickly running out. Indian Summer is a chilling tale of six childhood friends and the things that haunt them—both natural and otherworldly.

This is the brilliantly told story of one of the wonders of the modern world - how in less than a hundred years the British made themselves masters of India. They ruled it for another hundred, departing in 1947, leaving behind the independent states of India and Pakistan. British rule taught Indians to see themselves as Indians and its benefits included railways, hospitals, law and a universal language. But the Raj, outwardly so monolithic and magnificent, was always precarious. Its masters knew that it rested ultimately on the goodwill of Indians. This is a new look at a subject rich in incident and character; the India of the Raj was that of Clive, Kipling, Curzon and Gandhi and a host of lesser known others. RAJ will provoke debate, for it sheds new light on Mountbatten and the events of 1946-47 which ended an exercise in benign autocracy and an experiment in altruism.