Book review
In 1938 the New York-based Institute of Current World Affairs awarded 23-year-old Phillips Talbot a fellowship with a mandate: visit South Asia and learn about the intricacies of life in India.

Till 1950, Talbot graphically recounted the buildup to Indian and Pakistani independence, and the early experiences of the new states, in the form of several letters to the institute.

Talbot's reports from the field, presented here in the original, offer a kaleidoscope of first-hand observations: on student life at the Aligarh Muslim University, local life in a small Muslim community in Kashmir, a Vedic ashram in Lahore, Tagore's Shantiniketan, Gandhi's Sevagram, crucial sessions of the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, the Kodaikanal Ashram Fellowship, Hindu and Muslim urban communities in Lahore and Bombay, Afghanistan, a walk with Gandhi in Noakhali, the parties' negotiations with Mountbatten that led to independence and more.

Written with flair and insight, An American Witness to India's Partition, provides a perceptive view of South Asian society in its decisive decade.


About the author Phillips Talbot is President Emeritus, The Asia Society, USA. A distinguished journalist, he was the India correspondent of the Chicago Daily News in 1946. In 1961 the Kennedy administration named him Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs, covering the geographic area from Greece to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He has served as Ambassador to Greece from 1965 to 1969, and is a trustee emeritus of the Aspen Institute, the US-Japan Foundation and a number of other Asia-related organizations. In 2002, the Indian government awarded him the Padma Shri. He has also received the (New Delhi) Institute of Economic Studies' Bhartiya Shiromani Puraskar, the (Bombay) Indo-American Society's Annual Citation, the (New York) Taraknath Das Foundation's Distinguished Award, and the (Washington) Embassy of India's Videsh Samman