Gandhi

'This is a book primarily about Gandhi's ideas, where they came from and how he put them to work in his own life and in the Indian nationalist movement. Its novelty lies in the great attention which is paid to the late Victorian experiment with new ideas - for instance, vegetarianism, theosophy and non-violence - which, with Gandhi's own distinctive understanding of Hinduism as a faith of social action, went to give his life and his politics such a remarkable form.' Francis Robinson, Professor of the History of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London 'Shows considerable knowledge and understanding of the political and social context of Gandhi's evolving thought. The portrait of Gandhi is a broadly sympathetic one, but it is certainly not uncritical, bringing out some of the contradictions in his stance on non-violence and communal relations, criticising his treatment of his wife and exposing some of his bizarre attitudes to sex.' David Omissi 'A fine and engaging biography of Mahatma Gandhi. His ideas remain very relevant in understanding the problems that plague the contemporary world, for example what has gone wrong in the British interpretation of multiculturalism.' Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize-winner and Lamont University Professor at Harvard University '[Kathryn Tidrick] uses previously neglected materials to frame a previously ignored perspective on her subject...A most earnest, curious student of Gandhi's spiritual netherworld, Tidrick has sought to make sense of one of the oddest miscellanies of thoughts and feelings any biographer could confront.' Canberra TimesTHE TABLETGandhi emerges from Tidrick's detailed and balanced biography as a man with his full share of flaws, contradictions and oddities, but with more than a streak of genuine holiness.FT MAGAZINE'...original and convincing...'-William Dalrymple SUNDAY TIMES, 'Brilliant' - William Dalrymple

Kathryn Tidrick is the author of Heart-Beguiling Araby: The English Romance with Arabia and Empire and theEnglish Character (both published by I.B.Tauris). She was born and grew up in Britain and has a Ph.D. in psychology from London University. She has lived in the United States, Jamaica, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and India, and now makes Scotland her home.