Hardback, 1997, Harper Collins. At midnight on 14 August, 1947 Britain\'s 350 year-old Indian Empire was cracked into three pieces, creating India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The greatest mass migration in history began, as Muslims fled north and Hindus fled south, nearly a million being massacred on the way. Britain\'s role as a world power came to an end and the course of Asia\'s future was irrevocably set. Using a compelling mixture of scholarship, travel and personal narrative, Patrick French reveals the story behind this crucial period in world history. He analyses the rise of India\'s freedom movement in the early part of this century, the growth of Congress and the Muslim League, and the final, fateful struggle that led to the collapse of British rule and the transfer of power into Indian hands. This book offers a radical reinterpretation of the events surrounding |ndia\'s independence and partition, including the disastrous mistakes that were made by politicians and the bizarre reasoning behind many of their decisions.Patrick French gives a riveting account of an epic debacle, the impact of which reverberates across the sub-continent to this day.