A review by arachan
The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence by Anita Anand

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

This is a fascinating biography of the assassination of Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the man responsible for the Amritsar Massacre and Udham Singh, the man who pulled the trigger.  It's a very thorough book that looks, unflinchingly, at the imperial atrocities of British rule in India and O'Dwyer's chilling racism.  This is not a heroic tale.  Udham Singh is a very human figure, part of global influences and often passing without much notice.

Highly recommended for both people who only know Amritsar massacre from a single paragraph in a school history book or those who are more familiar as Anand does a very good job separating the myth of the patriotic hero from the messy and very human facts of the case.  It doesn't detract from the symbolism of Udham Singh's actions or do anything to excuse the vile imperial racism that O'Dwyer never repented of.
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