Cultural History of Medieval India Book

This is another incredibly readable and informative book by Farwell and one that should have been a part of the DYOD reading list. The book does focus on the military, and sometimes does go a bit too much into the minutia of military history. Nonetheless, it reads wonderfully and is a great supplement to James' Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India.
Spanning the post-Mutiny years from 1857 until the chaotic formation of India in 1947, Farwell presents many fascinating details about army life in India. What becomes apparent is how overall beneficial the British Raj was to India and Pakistan's development and growth. What was a hopeless patchwork of petty princedoms that were further divided by ethnic and religious loyalties was, due to the work of the Raj in the 18th century, able to transform into workable, somewhat, nations. The last part of the book discusses the nightmare of independence. It described how Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, and other Indian/Pakistani nationalists were willing to work with the Axis powers during the Second World War (As an aside, it also shows that Ireland's de Valera was willing to engage in the same pacts with the Devil.) and after the war, when the date for independence had been declared, were totally uncaring of the amount of trouble they caused as the British tried to disengage from the sub-continent without a religious blood-bath; this sections serves well to balance out the portraits of Gandhi and crew as saints without blood on their hands.
What is also apparent is that despite their arrogance, British officers really made the Indian army work. The Indian army was basically intended for service within the Empire and when employed in conventional warfare outside of India in the First and Second World Wars its performance often varied. The sections of the book about the "martial races" -those of northern India-- was quite interesting and provided insight into peoples such as Rajputs, Pathans and Sikhs who have come again into the worlds attentions due to recent events in Afghanistan and Pakistan.