John Zubrzycki

About: John Zubrzycki is a Sydney-based author and researcher who has written several books on the contemporary history of South Asia, especially India. He graduated from the Australian National University in 1984 with degrees in South Asian history and politics and later went on to work in Delhi, where he was posted as an Australian diplomat. In 2019, he received a doctorate for his thesis investigating the historical links between Indian and Western stage magicians from the University of New South Wales. His flair of writing combined with his thorough research makes history come alive, and readers are transported back in time to captivating stories that have shaped India the way it is today.

BOOK

Name: Dethroned

Description:

In July 1947, India's last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten faced a monumental task as he stood before New Delhi's Chamber of Princes to deliver the most important speech of his career. He had just three weeks to convince over 550 sovereign princely states--some tiny, some the size of Britain--to become part of a free India. Once Britain's most faithful allies, the princes could choose between joining India or Pakistan, or declaring independence.

This is a saga of intrigue, brinkmanship and broken promises, wrought by Mountbatten; independent India's most senior civil servant, tireless master strategist V.P. Menon, and Congress strongman Vallabhbhai Patel. What India's architects described as a "bloodless revolution" was anything but, as violence engulfed Kashmir and Indian troops crushed Hyderabad's dreams of independence.