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|---|---|
| Born | 1926 (age 98–99) London, England |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Citizenship | Australia |
| Alma mater | McGill University University of Cambridge |
| Subject | Sino-Indian War |
| Notable works | India's China War |
Neville Maxwell (born 1926 in London) is a retired Australian-British journalist and author of the 1970 book India's China War, which is considered a authoritative analysis of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. However, he has been criticized for his pessimistic views on Indian democracy.
India's China War
An Australian born in London, Maxwell was educated at McGill University in Canada and the University of Cambridge in England. He joined The Times as a foreign correspondent in 1955 and spent three years in the Washington bureau. In 1959 he was posted to New Delhi as the South Asia correspondent. In the next eight years he traveled from Kabul to East Pakistan and Kathmandu to Ceylon, reporting in detail the end of the Nehru era in India and the post-Nehru developments. During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Maxwell wrote for The Times from New Delhi, and was the only reporter there who did not uncritically accept the official Indian account of events. This eventually led to his "virtual expulsion" from India.
In 1967 Maxwell joined the School of Oriental and African Studies in London a senior fellow in order to write his book India's China War. He was with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at Oxford University at the time when the book was published in 1971. The book was widely praised across a diverse range of opinions, including British historian A. J. P. Taylor, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. On the other hand, Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew considered it "revisionist, pro-China history". In India, Maxwell is perceived as hostile to the Indian narrative of victimhood and received ferocious personal attacks.
View on Indian democracy
In the 1960s Maxwell incorrectly predicted that India would not remain a democracy for much longer. While serving as the South Asia correspondent of The Times of London, Maxwell authored a series of pessimistic reports filed in February 1967. In the atmosphere leading up to the 4th Lok Sabha elections, he wrote that "The great experiment of developing India within a democratic framework has failed. in the fourth—and surely last—general election."
References
- "Remembering a War". Rediff. 8 Oct 2002. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ^ Kai Friese (22 October 2012). "China Was The Aggrieved; India, Aggressor In '62". Outlook India. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ^ India's China War
- ^ Gregory Clark. "Book review: India's China War". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- Today newspaper (2013-09-23). "What's the Big Idea?". Today (Singapore). Retrieved 2013-12-26.
- Ramachandra Guha (2005-07-17). "Past & Present: Verdicts on India". The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
External links
- China, India, and the fruits of Nehru's folly Interview with Neville Maxwell by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis, June 6, 2007