Liberty or Death

India's Journey to Independence and Division

At midnight on 14 August 1947, Britain’s 350-year-old Indian Empire was broken into three pieces. The greatest mass migration in history began, as Muslims fled north and Hindus fled south, and Britain’s role as an imperial power came to an end.

Patrick French’s vivid and surprising account of the chaotic final years of colonial rule in India has been acclaimed as the definitive book on this subject. Journeying across India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, he brings to life a cast of characters including spies, idealists freedom fighters, and politicians from Churchill to Gandhi. The result is a compelling story of deal-making, missed opportunities, hope, and tragedy.
© Justine Stoddart

Patrick French was born in England in 1966 and studied literature at Edinburgh University. He is the author of Younghusband; Liberty or Death; Tibet, Tibet; and The World Is What It Is, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hawthornden Prize. French is the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. He lives in London.

View titles by Patrick French

About

At midnight on 14 August 1947, Britain’s 350-year-old Indian Empire was broken into three pieces. The greatest mass migration in history began, as Muslims fled north and Hindus fled south, and Britain’s role as an imperial power came to an end.

Patrick French’s vivid and surprising account of the chaotic final years of colonial rule in India has been acclaimed as the definitive book on this subject. Journeying across India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, he brings to life a cast of characters including spies, idealists freedom fighters, and politicians from Churchill to Gandhi. The result is a compelling story of deal-making, missed opportunities, hope, and tragedy.

Author

© Justine Stoddart

Patrick French was born in England in 1966 and studied literature at Edinburgh University. He is the author of Younghusband; Liberty or Death; Tibet, Tibet; and The World Is What It Is, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hawthornden Prize. French is the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. He lives in London.

View titles by Patrick French

Books for Women’s History Month

In honor of Women’s History Month in March, we are sharing books by women who have shaped history and have fought for their communities. Our list includes books about women who fought for racial justice, abortion rights, equality in the workplace, and ranges in topics from women in politics and prominent women in history to

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