Shashi Tharoor delivers an incisive biography of the great secularist whoâalongside his spiritual father, Mahatma Gandhiâled the movement for Indiaâs independence from British rule and ushered his newly independent country into the modern world. The man who would one day help topple British rule and become Indiaâs first prime minister started out as a surprisingly unremarkable student. Born into a wealthy, politically influential Indian family in the waning years of the Raj, Jawaharlal Nehru was raised on Western secularism and the humanist ideas of the Enlightenment.Â
Once he met Gandhi in 1916, Nehru threw himself into the nonviolent struggle for Indiaâs independence, a struggle that wasnât won until 1947. India had found a perfect political complement to her more spiritual advocate, but neither Nehru nor Gandhi could prevent the horrific price for independence: partition. This fascinating biography casts an unflinching eye on Nehruâs heroic efforts for, and stewardship of, independent India and gives us a careful appraisal of his legacy to the world.