Anna: Life And Times Of C.N. Annadurai - Softcover

KANNAN, R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143429035 ISBN 13: 9780143429036

Publisher: India Viking, 2017

Synopsis

In 1967, C.N. Annadurai became the chief minister of Madras state, when his party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), swept to power for the first time. In this definitive biography, R. Kannan traces the growth of Annadurai from a young protégé of the radical thinker Periyar E.V. Ramasamy into a revered leader known as Anna or elder brother. Kannan draws on Anna s considerable body of writing, and the memoirs of other leaders and authors in Tamil, to candidly examine Anna s complex relationship with Periyar and his disillusionment with the corruption he witnessed when in power. Featuring luminaries like Rajagopalachari and Kamaraj, K. Karunanidhi and MGR, among many others, Anna offers a warm and rounded portrait of a man who showed the way for the democratic expression of regional aspirations within a united India

About this title

About the Author:

R. Kannan is a child of the Dravidian movement and has long been a commentator on Dravidian politics. Raised and educated at Chennai, Kannan completed his LLM from the University of Georgia and PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He has served in various capacities with the United Nations in two continents for nearly a quarter of a century. He presently heads the Basra office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. His latest book is MGR: M.G.Ramachandran, A Life.

Review:

Thoroughly researched, engagingly written, combining analytical rigour with anecdotal verve, R. Kannan's life of C.N. Annadurai is a landmark in the annals of contemporary Indian political biography. It brings to life a giant of our age who deserves to be far better known outside his native Tamil Nadu. The impact of Anna's life and message still endures. Every thinking Indian should be aware of it, and there could be no better source in the English language to understand Anna's contribution in shaping our India than this fine book. --Shashi Tharoor

Anna: The Life and Times of C.N. Annadurai admirably fills an intriguing gap, the absence of a reliable biography of one of the most interesting, attractive, and consequential of modern India s political leaders, whose legacy is no less than the permanent transformation of Tamil Nadu s socio-political landscape, the ascendancy of the federal idea, and a whole new democratic language of connecting with the masses. This is a sympathetic work that . . . uses its sources well and keeps a critical distance from its subject and the movement he led. A special triumph is the fresh life it brings to the fascinating personal and political relationship between Anna and his formidable mentor, the iconoclastic social reformer Periyar . This accessible and lucidly written work is an invaluable read on the Dravidian Movement in its dynamic and most democratic phase, before the loss of innocence. --N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu User Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: India Viking
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0143429035
• ISBN 13: 9780143429036
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 458