Excellent readable history - Rated 
Von Tunzelmann has made a great fist of this. It's refreshing to see the incompetence of Mountbatten put into perspective in a way that all the hagiographies up to now have not. Bear in mind the Mountbatten's steadfastly refuse access to their archives to any serious historian (just read Zeigler's book to see what the authorised ones write about him!) Also, due credit is given to Jinnah as the most dextrous politician in the sub continent, oh how Congress must wish they had done more to keep him on board. Not many 'secrets' as it has been commonly accepted that the relationships between Nehru and the Mountbattens were more than cordial, if only they would get with the times and throw the archives open...there's no reputation left to protect Pamela!!!
A surprising good read about the end of an era and the downfall of an Empire - Rated
I attended a book signing event on the 13th November 2007 in Brighton were the author talked about the complexities of writing such an epic in which she looked at the dynamics that bought about the fall of an Empire and the most unlikely love story ever not to be reported by the press, that of Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.
The book is surprisingly good, I have to confess I didn't have high hopes when I purchased it but the subject is of such interest to me I was willing to take a chance and buy it and I am glad I did.
Ms Von Tunzleman has a written a book that has obviously been researched extensively, both here in the UK and also in India and her candid no nonsense approach to all the subjects she touches, such as Hindu and Muslim hostilities, Mahatma Gandhi's strange predilections that made people both love and hate him, to the fate of the dispossessed, the love story between Nehru and Edwina makes it very interesting to read to the point that you can't put it down.
For a historian Ms Von Tunzleman has made this book very accessible to the ordinary reader, she goes into great detail but she is never boring as she explains how India became a British Empire and how when it finally crumbled into dust, it did so, so swiftly that no one, least of all the British were prepared for the backlash that was to follow.
A superb book with many photos of an era that depicts two nations in transition, India the Jewel in the Crown striking out on its own and Great Britain, suddenly realising that its days as the greatest Empire in the world have come to an end, not so much a tragedy as the inevitability of change in a world flinging of the chains of colonial paternalism.
No secret; not entirely about the end of an empire. - Rated 
Alex von Tunzelmann, student of history at Oxford and editor of OSU's Cherwell newspaper in 1998, passes this book as "the secret history of the end of an empire".
"Life and times of Mountbattens in India" would have been a more apt title. The book contains no secret and is not entirely about the end of the empire.
The book places too much importance on the roles of three individuals: Mountbatten, his wife Edwina and Nehru. The long struggle, mostly non violent, to evict an alien rule by a wide and deep political leadership (some meriting reverence for decades after their death) has been trivialized to a vane member of British royal family sent to unwind the empire; his flirting wife and an equally flirting visionary who led India during and after the transition.
However, one must compliment Alex von Tunzelmann for the sheer objectivity she brings into describing the events in the last days of the Raj.
Alex starts with a funny perspective: In 1577, India was a vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organized and culturally unified, which dominated a massive swathe of the earth; and England was an underdeveloped semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its masses. Now you know what alien rule does to the ruler and the ruled! However, a country divided by religion, divided by tribe, divided by caste; a society whose equilibrium derives from repulsion and exclusiveness is, as Karl Marx rightly observed, predestined to be a prey of conquest.
Did Britain rule India in discharge of "the white man's burden"? Not really. The Prince of Wales, visiting India in 1921, found the princely states far better than British India? Quite a royal endorsement against the inept colonial rule that kept the GDP stagnating for over 70 years at the time of this observation!
Is the British attitude toward India one of patronizing affection as reflected by Edwina's kindly love for Nehru? Not really. Winston Churchill astonished everyone in a dinner party by suggesting that he would have "Gandhi bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi and let the Viceroy sit on the back of a giant elephant and trample the Mahatma into the dirt"! This reflects the kind of thinking that political leadership in India had to face! (Oh yes, I found one opinion I share with Churchill: Gandhi is a Mahatma!)
Did Mountbatten handle his role reasonably well? Mostly no; occasionally yes.
(a) In mid July 1947, while negotiations about partition, defence, finance, future of princely states and the future of 400 million people raged around him, Viceroy Mountbatten was "busy fussing about flags" seeking Union Jack in the upper canton of the flags of India and Pakistan!
(b) Ten days before independence, in the midst of the violence in Punjab, Mountbatten bothered Nehru with a list of dates upon which the Union Jack might continue to be flown in India after independence!
(c) However, he deserves some praise. In less than one year, Patel and Mountbatten achieved a larger and more closely integrated India than what had been achieved in 130 years of Mauryan rule, 180 years of Mughal empire or 90 years of British Raj.
Alex steers clear of bias in her book to an admirable extent.
One reason why, I would recommend a reading of her chapter on Kashmir.
A Viceregal Debut - Rated
An extremely impressive first work from Alex von Tunzelmann. Clearly very thoroughly researched, the book manages to wear its scholarship lightly and is written with wit and a sophistication that is refreshing in works of this nature. The author views the tumultuous events of 1947, so relevant in this sixtieth anniversary year, through the prism of the personalities of, and the personal relationships between, the main players on the Anglo-Indian stage. The result is an immensely readable history and perceptive analysis of the partition of India and the role played in its genesis and execution by the Mountbattens, Nehru, Jinnah and Ghandi (and others). There are also some fascinating photographs - not least the wonderful cover photo.
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