Anita Anand (1) (1972–)

This book has as its core the shocking 1919 Amritsar Massacre, which saw hundreds of innocent Indian families shot at and killed or injured at the behest of Sir Michael O'Dwyer. Twenty years later, in a shooting that had been all those years in the planning, he himself was shot and killed by Udham Singh.

This is the story of that massacre, and of these two men. It's meticulously researched and involvingly told, and gives a vivid and unappealing picture of the British occupation of India, as well as the lives of Indians who had gone to America, and specifically England, in search of a better life.

While it attributes unverifiable words and feelings to all the main characters in this long and involved saga, the book has been exhaustively researched to present a rounded picture of the time, as it impacted on those who lived through it. It does much to explain the wider history of the period. Complicated relationships with Communist Russia and the Nazis are nor widely known about - in the UK at least.

This is a book I am glad to have read. It's an illuminating account of what is often a shameful period of British history.… (más)

It takes a particular kind of man to wrought the injustices wrecked upon his fellow human beings on his heart and then seek redress for them.

For Udham Singh, the pursuit of redress culminated in a 21 year long journey which ended in the early days of Nazi ascension when he gunned down a colonial tyrant in London. The world was naturally shaken awake the ensuing day when news filtered in that in the very heart of Pax Britannica itself, an anti-imperialist had shattered the hitherto unchallenged power of colonialism.

Udham Singh today is more mystery than man. He has been rendered a distant memory by a resurgent UK and it's dominance in the Commonwealth coalition. Anita Anand lays bare the man behind the myth and delineates what motivated him to gun down Michael O' Dwyer, the blue-eyed darling of the colonial edifice in India.

A sensitive orphan, and later a veteran of WW1 Udham was a victim of Eurocentric racism. But his sufferings paled in comparison to those of his fellow country men. When Michael O' Dwyer ordered the sanguinary Jallianwala Bagh massacre, a trapped Udham saved himself by hiding under the mounting corpses.

On the next morrow, shaken by what he had witnessed, Udham swore revenge and stalked the much adulated O'Dwyer for the next 21 years.

Anand charts his astonishing journey. From the barren wastes of Mexico to the sandy beaches of New Jersey and beyond, Udham planned to acquire redress for the massacre seeing the British obduracy against providing justice. He travelled extensively over Europe and even once married a Hispanic woman and settled down.

But the flame of justice burnt deeply in his heart and he evaded the authorities by disappearing from the lives of his young family. Ultimately, he landed in the UK and concluded his two decade long pursuit. Anand delineates each and every aspect of Udham's
unique life up till O' Dwyer's assassination and the aftermath. Her greatest achievement lies in her underscoring of one salient fact:

Udham Singh was no reactionary but a revolutionary. His bullets impelled the hastening of colonialism's death. His martyrdom was for a universal cause and not solely in a nationalistic vein.

I hang my head in shame that we have forgotten Udham Singh today.… (más)

On April 13, 1919 in Amritsar (located in a province of Punjab India) the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place. I had never heard of this, and I wonder how many non-Indian people have. This was one of the most odious actions I have ever read about.

The story tells the events leading up to the massacre. Diving into British entry in India, the Raj they became, the control they held over the Indian people. It tells the story from all perspectives, with stellar research on all of the main characters. The tale spans more than 20 years as Udham Singh stews over the slaughter of his people as he plans his revenge.

The story of Udham Singh begins with his execution for the assassination of Sir Michael O'Dwyer. It then goes back in time to reveal the events that lead to Singh's arrest. [a:Anita Anand|598591|Anita Anand|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1421970187p2/598591.jpg] gives equal, non-judgmental page time to both men, and also to all the other main players.

I learned so much about the cultural divide that existed in India at this time. So many of the deplorable actions of the British went unpunished. It makes you wonder, it makes you sick to your stomach.

I deducted 1/2 star because at times I got bored with all the detail, but that's just me-always wanting the meat of the story "right now". I will however look for more written by this author. The story is told as more of a "thriller" not a dry documentary.

I recommend this to anyone who loves historical non-fiction, who wants to know more about why "The Sun Never Set On The British Empire".
… (más)