A review by nuts246
The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom by P. Sainath

5.0

"We fought for freedom. We got independence" is the refrain that runs through the book. Stories of men and women who took part in the freedom struggle, most of whom continued working to reduce social and economic inequity even after independence. None of them attained fame, but each of them risked everything to do what they believed they should. Of particular interest to me are the women- some were frontline warriors who took visible risks, but many stayed behind and home and cooked; only on questioning deeper do you realise they cooked for the revolutionaries, and that was as important as anything else, though unacknowledged even by themselves. The book seeks to record the voices of those who are now forgotten, but it's importance is because it reminds us of the sacrifices others made, and of how our job is not over till the freedoms they fought for are attained.