Bill Dahl

Gandhi – A Life by Yogesh Chadha

April 2008 Book Review

After 500 pages of microscopic print and extraordinary detail characterizing the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi, I am truly delighted that I embarked on the adventure contained in this literary masterpiece.

This volume is a vastly more level-headed caricature of Gandhi, I am told. You get the distinct sense that this was a human being, not a saint as some have painted his life and being.

This is also a volume that takes one to the depths of issues like self-sacrifice, racism, conflict between people of different faith persuasions, oppression, the fight for freedom, transition, change, non-violence, the emergence of a nation (S.Africa, Pakistan and India) and death. The issues and the approaches to these issues are a pertinent today as they were during Gandhi’s lifetime.

An arduous read for me, yet one I could not abandon. I urge you to do the same. Enjoy.