The Raj at war : a people's history of India's Second World War / Yasmin Khan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Khan, Yasmin, 1977- author.

Contributor:

Class of 1924 Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--India.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Participation, East Indian.

World War, 1939-1945--Social aspects--India.

War and society.

History.

Social change.

Social conditions.

India--History--1919-1947.

India.

India--Social conditions--20th century.

Social change--India--History--20th century.

War and society--India--History--20th century.

Social aspects.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 416 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, color maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : The Bodley Head, 2015.

Summary:

The Second World War was not fought by Britain, but by the British Empire. In The Raj at War Yasmin Khan has revived the many lost voices of the war fought by India, at home and abroad, creating a rich portrait of a continent at war, told by the many Indian soldiers and civilians whose lives were upturned by war. The non-combatants, the lascars, the prostitutes, nurses, refugees and peasants. We hear from: Three soldiers, imprisoned as 'traitors to the Raj', released to a hero's welcome; A small Muslim boy arrested in Lahore for singing anti-recruitment songs; The cooks on board army boats, preparing chapattis on petrol burners on deck amidst howling gales; The family huddled round the wireless listening to illicit German radio broadcasts, with the shutters closed and a servant keeping guard; and, The first Indian soldier to receive the Victoria cross, Premindra Bhagat, writing to his sweetheart Mohini. It is a narrative of loyalty and rebellion, oppression and protection. India did indeed come to the aid of its colonial master, but it was the wartime transformation of India that ultimately led to Indian independence and the partition of the subcontinent, as the Raj unravelled under the pressure of war.

Contents:

Prologue

1. An Empire Committed

2. Peasants into Soldiers

3. Into the Middle East and North Africa

4. Free and Willing Human Beings

5. Not a Paisa, Not a Man

6. Bombed to Hell

7. Money Coming, Money Coming

8. An Empire Exposed

9. Urban Panic

10. The World at the Door

11. Thirty Months Too Late

12. Welcome to Bombay

13. Plantations and Paddy Fields

14. Living Dangerously

15. Scorched Earth

16. The Cogs in a Watch

17. Longing and Loss

18. Catalyst of Change

19. The Man-a-Mile Road

20 .Insults and Discriminations

21. Empires, Lost and Found

22. Celebrations and Recriminations

23. The Sepoy's Return

Chronology of Major Events

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations.

Notes:

Maps on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-397) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1924 Book Fund.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781847921208

1847921205

OCLC:

917289739

Publisher Number:

60002029569

99964650346