India 1885-1947

 India's struggle for independence is an extraordinary story. The pivotal question posed by this book is how a valued and seemingly permanent imperial possession - the "jewel in the crown" - came to be given its freedom only sixty years after the establishment of the Congress National Congress in 1885.  On the face of it, decolonisation seems to have been the direct result of nationalist pressure, but Ian Copland suggests that the reality was more complex - he gives the full social, political and economic context up to the transfer of power in 1947. The account covers * the Indian National Congress * the central figure of Gandhi * the first years of independence Helpful features include a biographical guide to the main protagonists and a chronological outline of the main events.  IAN COPLAND is Associate Professor of History at Monash University, Australia.