Great story, well-paced, well-written, this is good biography. Gandhi is one of the few subjects of biography that I think is essential if you're goinGreat story, well-paced, well-written, this is good biography. Gandhi is one of the few subjects of biography that I think is essential if you're going to read biographies (along with Lincoln and Napoleon).
This is the second of two volumes. The first is also excellent; this volume is is more exciting, largely due to the gravity of the events depicted. You see Gandhi's major actions of civil disobedience, like the Salt March (how had I never heard of this before this book?). And you see a narrative cycle: Gandhi gets imprisoned for doing something political, fasts himself nearly to death in prison, gets released from prison due to health concerns with an understanding that he will stay out of political life, pauses from public life, rejoins public life, get arrested again, etc.
You spend a good amount of time with Gandhi's major allies (Mahadev Desi, Nehru, Patel), his wife Kasturba, and his major antagonists (the various viceroys of India, Jinnah, and the fascinating "untouchable" activist Ambedkar). I had not realized Churchill was among Gandhi's antagonists. He looks terrible in this story. The epilogue describes the numerous types of people today who want to repudiate Gandhi. Sadly, there are a lot of them; I would have thought opposition to Gandhi was limited to a handful of cranks, like people who hate Mr Rogers.
Gandhi's methods are thought provoking. The author makes the case that Gandhi was naïve about how the European nations could have used nonviolent civil disobedience to shame Hitler and the Nazis, but that there may have been an earlier window when Hitler's grasp on power was more tenuous, and it could have worked. It makes me think about the use of shame in politics in a different way. It is important to live in a world where our leaders are not shameless.
Gandhi's nonviolence is conspicuous in this book, as opposed to the first volume, because here it contrasts with the violence used by other Indians (first against the British, then between Hindus and Muslims). The prominent place for Gandhi's nonviolence makes it a great anti-war book. I've heard it said that there is a big reasons you cannot make an anti-war film or anti-war book: because of the heightened emotional stakes, acts of heroism, and life-or-death situations, the drama of war is so great that it makes it appealing despite the unappealing violence. This book pushes back against that. There are high emotional stakes, heroic acts, and life-or-death situations throughout, demonstrating a powerful and appealing alternative narrative to war.
With a basic understanding of Indian history and a map of Indian states and provinces, this book is a great introduction to the birth of modern India, even without the first volume. If you want the full biography of Gandhi though, I recommend both volumes. To continue the story about India, I look forward to reading the author's India After Gandhi, covering the years after Gandhi's life....more
Exactly how much I wanted to know about this period of Gandhi's life. The book shows why Gandhi went to Africa, how he developed his philosophy, and hExactly how much I wanted to know about this period of Gandhi's life. The book shows why Gandhi went to Africa, how he developed his philosophy, and how he became famous. As the author states about halfway through the book, there are six threads to this story: (1) Gandhi's legal career, (2) his political campaigns, (3) his writing, (4) his community building, (5) his family, and (6) his own self-discovery. I found each thread compelling.
There were plenty of surprises. I didn't know how much Gandhi was influenced by Tolstoy (his later work, not his famous novels). Or Chesterton. Or his partnerships with the Chinese.
I'm looking forward to the next volume and the India After Gandhi by this author that follows. I feel I've found my entryway into getting my hands around contemporary India....more
Incomplete; you won't get a full story without reading the other 2 books. I wasn't crazy enough about it to want to finish the series. The book has an Incomplete; you won't get a full story without reading the other 2 books. I wasn't crazy enough about it to want to finish the series. The book has an ancient fantasy setting, with an imagined Indian empire called Meluha that has some of the scientific knowledge of today. It brings in a lot of Indian cultural elements, e.g., the Hindu caste system, and explains them in ways that are easy for foreigners to understand. It actually seems like a pretty good introduction to ancient Indian culture (not necessarily from an educational standpoint, but maybe to pique someone's interest: "oh, so that's what they mean by "brahmins," I wonder how much of that is true...). Amusingly, the banker-turned-author uses some contemporary corporate-speak in how he describes this ancient culture (direct quote: "Welcome to Meluha . . . I will be your Orientation Executive. Think of me as your single point of contact for all issues whilst you are here."). The most jarring contemporary language is that the enemies are repeatedly described as terrorists. I guess it's pretty standard for any scifi/fantasy to use contemporary problems for its setting (e.g., the Cold War and Invasion of the Body Snatchers). As an outsider looking into India, it looked irresponsible the way that the terrorists are considered subhuman, etc. (view spoiler)[From what I understand from the later books, the author gives more of a fair pass to the terrorists. (hide spoiler)]...more
I got bait-and-switched on this book. I had expected a portrait of the super-rich in India; instead, I got a viewpoint on what the Indian government aI got bait-and-switched on this book. I had expected a portrait of the super-rich in India; instead, I got a viewpoint on what the Indian government and people need to do to be successful.
The author's thesis is laid out at the end: "Yet until [India] grapples with the three challenges outlined in this book - inequality and the new super-rich, crony capitalism, and the travails of the industrial economy - the path, to achieving [its] goals will remain uncertain." It's well-written, but not what I was looking to read.
As far as a portrait of the super-rich, there is some fun stuff in the first 30% of the book or so. After that, it was "come for the gossip on the billionaires, stay for the analysis of Modi's government." ...more
A classic that holds up well, best read in bits and pieces rather than straight through. The descriptions of the peoples and places Marco Polo encountA classic that holds up well, best read in bits and pieces rather than straight through. The descriptions of the peoples and places Marco Polo encountered get repetitive. Still, it's interesting to see what he thought of them, and it's funny for a 21st century reader to see that he's clearly making some of it up....more
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