Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire - Hardcover

Gandhi, Rajmohan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520255704 ISBN 13: 9780520255708

Publisher: University of California Press, 2008

Synopsis

This monumental biography of one of the most intriguing figures of the twentieth century, written by his grandson, is the first to give a complete and balanced account of Mahatma Gandhi's remarkable life, the development of his beliefs and his political campaigns, and his complex relations with his family. Written with unprecedented insight and access to family archives, it reveals a life of contrasts and contradictions: the westernized Inner Temple lawyer who wore the clothes of India's poorest and who spun cotton by hand, the apostle of nonviolence who urged Indians to enlist in the First World War, the champion of Indian independence who never hated the British. It tells of Gandhi's campaigns against racial discrimination in South Africa and untouchability in India, tracks the momentous battle for India's freedom, explores the evolution of Gandhi's strategies of non-violent resistance, and examines relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, a question that attracted Gandhi's passionate attention and one that persists around the world today. Published to rave reviews in India in 2007, this riveting book gives North American readers the true Gandhi, the man as well as the legend, for the first time.

About this title

About the Author

Rajmohan Gandhi is Research Professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A former member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament), he led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in 1990. His other books include Ghaffar Khan: Nonviolent Badshah of the Pakhtuns, Revenge & Reconciliation: Understanding South Asian History, and Eight Lives: A Study of the Hindu-Muslim Encounter.

From the Back Cover

"No one has ever succeeded in pinning Gandhi to paper as well as Rajmohan Gandhi has. He has managed somehow to evoke the whole of his grandfather-including the human flaws that made his triumphs all the more remarkable."―Geoffrey C. Ward, prizewinning biographer of Franklin Roosevelt and scriptwriter for Ken Burns documentary The War

"Rajmohan Gandhi's weighty, authoritative, and comprehensive biography is a great achievement."―William Dalrymple, Financial Times

Reviews

The author, Professor Gandhi of the Univ. of Ill., was 12 years old when his grandfather was assassinated by a Hindu extremist. Besides being the global symbol of nonviolent resistance, Mohandas Gandhi (called Mahatma, "the great soul," by his people) is still venerated in India today. In his rigorous account of Mahatma's life, Gandhi (Gaffar Kahn) writes movingly of the man, his family and his ideas, culminating in his monumental stand against India's British rulers. Born in India in 1869, Mahatma studied in London and then practiced law in South Africa, where he opposed both the color bar against Indians and inter-Indian discrimination against "untouchables," their lowest caste. Joining the radical wing of the Congress Party, Mahatma returned to India, insisting on nonviolent protest despite British provocations like the Amritsar massacre, in which soldiers shot into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators. His tactics resounded with his followers; his fasts kept them inspired and won concessions from the British. Along the way, the author provides interesting glimpses of a family baring the brunt of Mahatma's rejection of the typical middle-class lifestyle afforded an Indian professional. This thorough, inspiring account is notable not just for the author's personal ties and obvious passion, but for his considerable research and the enormity of his undertaking.
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Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520255704
• ISBN 13: 9780520255708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 759