Book review
A stunning visual record of India’s struggle for Independence



This elegant volume attempts to chronicle for the first time ever, the visual moments of the movement that changed the history of India. The culmination of over a hundred years of striving that had claimed thousands of lives, the Indian freedom movement was a struggle marked by remarkable leadership, personal integrity and terrible sacrifice. It was the first nonviolent mass movement that overthrew an empire.



With a thought-provoking introduction by Pavan K. Varma, who enumerates the enduring legacies of the freedom movement, this book is replete with photographs, maps, newspaper clippings and letters sourced from various archives, museums and libraries from India and abroad. The richly illustrated pages take you from the decades prior to the Revolt of 1857 to the Independence of India on 15 August 1947 and to the formation of the Republic of India.



It is at once an introduction to the subject for the lay reader and a companion to the volumes of written history on the struggle that we all know so well. The Illustrated History of the Freedom Struggle is a must have for anyone who believes that when it comes to chronicling the epochal events of a nation’s history, a picture is worth a thousand words.