About The Book

The Gandhi Reader collects the significant writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi, culled form 500 volumes, newspapers, and magazines. Here is Gandhi in his own words and those of his closest associates, including selections from his autobiography; descriptions of Gandhi by Romain Rollard, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Louis Fischer; Gandhi’s letters to Roosevelt, Hitler, Chiang Kai-shek; and many of his most famous addresses.

From The Gandhi Reader one gains a new perspective on the British Empire, the birth of the Republic of India, and South Africa at the turn of the century. Gandhi’s wide-ranging mind also led him to consider subjects as varied as self-restraint, non-violence in war and peace, diet reform, birth control, village industry and sanitation, education, and the emancipation of women.

“People describe me as a saint trying to be a politician, but the truth is the other way around,” said this century’s greatest apostle of nonviolence, and Homer Jack’s superb anthology powerfully conveys Gandhi’s impact on history, his vision for peace, and the creative forces of his moral teachings. The Gandhi Reader is an important sourcebook on a dramatic, forceful, modern genius whose words still bear their truth today.

Praise

“The best of Gandhi in every area,”complete enough to give the reader not just a sampling”but a quite comprehensive grasp of Gandhi’s philosophy of life. It is difficult to imagine how this labor of love could have been improved.” –Saturday Review