Churchill's Secret War

The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II

By: Madhusree Mukarjee

Narrated by: James Adams

In the tradition of The Rape of Nanking and A Problem from Hell, this account will change the way we think of Churchill and World War II.

In 1943 Winston Churchill and the British Empire needed millions of Indian troops, all of India's industrial output, and tons of Indian grain to support the Allied war effort. Such massive contributions were certain to trigger famine in India. Because Churchill believed that the fate of the British Empire hung in the balance, he proceeded, sacrificing millions of Indian lives in order to preserve what he held most dear. The result: the Bengal Famine of 1943-44, in which millions of villagers starved to death.

Relying on extensive archival research and first-hand interviews, Mukerjee weaves a riveting narrative of Churchill's decisions to ratchet up the demands on India as the war unfolded and to ignore the corpses piling up in the Bengali countryside. The hypocrisy, racism, and extreme economic conditions of two centuries of British colonial policy finally built to a head, leading Indians to fight for their independence in 1947.

Few Americans know that World War II was won on the backs of these starving peasants; Mukerjee shows us a side of World War II that we have been blind to. We know what Hitler did to the Jews, what the Japanese did to the Chinese, what Stalin did to his own people. This story has largely been neglected, until now.

©2010 Madhusree Mukarjee (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[W]ell-researched…This gripping account of historical tragedy is a useful corrective to fashionable theories of benign imperial rule, arguing that a brutal rapaciousness was the very soul of the Raj." ( Publishers Weekly)

A great book hampered by extremely poor narrator

This is an important and well written book but I would recommend people to either find a different audiobook or just buy a printed copy of it. The narrator did not even put 30 seconds of his life in some basic research. Imagine narrating the story of another country and consistently mis pronouncing the names. How much of an effort is it to learn the correct pronunciation? Bose become Bosé, Jawaharlal become some new mythical beast from Earthsea and who knows what.

It was infuriating listening to him and wish he never does another one involving India or anything else really.

Westerners forget this part of WWII

Author Madhusree Mukarjee deserves credit for bringing attention to a part of WWII that Westerners have conveniently forgotten - over a million Indians died of starvation caused at least party by British demands for India to provide supplies during WWII.

However, the author goes too far in implying repeatedly that Indians would be rich people if the British would disappear. The reality is that most Indians have no ability to earn money and anyway they have lots of babies and cannot support those babies.

The narration was very good.

John Christmas, author of "Democracy Society"

Indian names pronunciations are horrible

I love the contents of of this book. Extremely well researched. I couldn’t believe Churchill can be this inhumane against a fellow human being, but the narration is horrible.

Interesting angle on the War

I thought I was well read on the general subject of the Second World War, at least in terms of the Western Allies, until I read this book. I even took a University course on the History of the British Empire and Commonwealth, and I don't recall any discussion of the war time famines in India. This is clearly written from the Indian point of view, and there are some conclusions which seem speculative. Overall, the book is quite damning of Imperial policy and the comparisons between food requirements for the home islands and India, are a stark comparison. I particularly enjoyed deepening my understanding of the conflict and the post war Independence and Partition of India. The audio version is read by an English narrator which adds some interesting flavor somehow.

Churchill from a different, lesser known, perspective.

Book is very detailed account of the Bengal famine, and role of British empire in it. A tragedy not talked about enough. I agree will all other reviews that it is painful to repeatedly hear the narrator mispronounce names of national freedom fighters and places.