The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been the subject of over a dozen well-regarded biographies. Yet key aspects of the man still prove elusive. In this book, Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and an acclaimed biographer and scholar, attempts to understand one of twentieth century's greatest leaders. This he does by examining in detail dominant and varied themes of Gandhi's life – his unsuccessful bid to keep India united; his attitude on caste and untouchability; his relationship with those whose empire he challenged; his controversial experiments with chastity; his God, truth and nonviolence; and his selection of heirs to lead a new-born nation. Focusing also on Gandhi's early years in London and South Africa, Rajmohan Gandhi then knits his conclusions into a refreshingly new and illuminating portrait of Gandhi.
Fora generation growing upon images of the' simplified Father of the Nation and apostle of nonviolence frozen in statues or reduced to a few predictable strokes of an artist's pen, this biography offers a rewarding insight into the man, his victories and his defeats.
Author
Born in 1935 Rajmohan Gandhi (Alumni), biographer, commentator and a former Member of Parliament, worked as Research Professor with the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He has written the lives of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878-1972), India's first Indian Governor General, and Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), Gandhi's colleague in the freedom movement and Deputy Prime Minister of India, 1947-50, and a study of the Hindu-Muslim relationship, Understanding the Muslim Mind.
