Here is a revelatory work of biography that takes us from Mohandas Gandhi's birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London, and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Author Ramachandra Guha has uncovered a myriad of previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi's contemporaries and co-workers, contemporary newspapers and court documents, the writings of Gandhi's children, and secret files kept by British Empire functionaries. Using this wealth of material in a brilliantly nuanced narrative, Guha describes the social, political, and personal worlds in which Gandhi began his journey to become the modern era's most important and influential political reformer and leader.
This event is co-presented by Asia Society.
Ramachandra Guha has previously taught at Yale and Stanford universities, the University of Oslo, the Indian Institute of Science, and the London School of Economics. His books include a pioneering environmental history, an award-winning social history of cricket, and the award-winning India After Gandhi. He writes regularly on social and political issues for the British and Indian press, including columns in The Telegraph and the Hindustan Times, and also for The New York Times.
Meet the Author(s)
