Ramachandra Guha

The History of the World's Largest Democracy

India After Gandhi

Environmentalism in India and the United States

How Much Should a Person Consume?

From one of the world’s leading historians comes the first substantial study of environmentalism set in any country outside the Euro-American world
 
By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, “too poor to be green.” In this deeply researched book, Ramachandra Guha challenges this narrative by revealing a virtually unknown prehistory of the global movement set far outside Europe or America. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and well before climate change, ten remarkable individuals wrote with deep insight about the dangers of environmental abuse from within an Indian context. In strikingly contemporary language, Rabindranath Tagore, Radhakamal Mukerjee, J. C. Kumarappa, Patrick Geddes, Albert and Gabrielle Howard, Mira, Verrier Elwin, K. M. Munshi, and M. Krishnan wrote about the forest and the wild, soil and water, urbanization and industrialization. Positing the idea of what Guha calls “livelihood environmentalism” in contrast to the “full-stomach environmentalism” of the affluent world, these writers, activists, and scientists played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity’s relationship with nature.
 
Spanning more than a century of Indian history, and decidedly transnational in reference, this book offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.

The Origins of Indian Environmentalism

Speaking with Nature

Western Fighters for India's Freedom

Rebels Against the Raj

"Finally, here is a history of democratic India that is every bit as sweeping as the country itself . . . [A] magisterial work’ Financial Times ‘Guha has given democratic India the rich, well-paced history it deserves’ Washington Post ‘An insightful, spirited and elegantly crafted account of India since 1947’ Times Literary Supplement ‘A magnificently told history of the world’s largest democracy’ India Today Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi is a magisterial account of the pains, struggles, humiliations and glories of the world’s largest and least likely democracy. A riveting chronicle of the often brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation, and of the extraordinary individuals and institutions who held it together, it established itself as a classic when it was first published in 2007. In the years since the publication of the book’s tenth anniversary edition, India has witnessed, among other things, demonetization and a devastating pandemic; Narendra Modi’s re-election as Prime Minister; more violence against women, Dalits, and religious minorities; a wave of prosperity for some but the persistence of poverty for others; the abrogation of Kashmir’s autonomous status; large-scale citizens’ protests and unprecedented state crackdown on dissent. This third edition, revised and expanded, brings the narrative up to the present. Published to coincide with the seventy-fifth anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination, this definitive history of modern India is the work of one of the world’s finest scholars at the height of his powers."

A History (3rd Edition, Revised and Updated)

Makers of modern India

Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalya, Expanded Edition

The Unquiet Woods

An epic and revelatory biography of one of the most abidingly influential--and controversial--men in modern history. Opening with Gandhi's triumphant return to India in 1915 after decades abroad, and ending with his tragic assassination in 1949, Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World is a remarkable, moving portrait that provides a crucial re-evaluation of India's iconic leader for a new generation. Drawing on a wealth of newly uncovered materials unavailable to previous biographers, acclaimed historian and author Ramachandra Guha brings the past to life with extraordinary grace and clarity. Deploying his gifts as a storyteller and scholar, Guha presents Gandhi as both a fascinating human being--a man of fierce hope, eccentric personal beliefs, and sometimes dark and alarming contradictions--as well as a dynamic political force and global icon. Sharp, insightful, balanced, and impeccably researched, this free-standing sequel to Guha's magisterial biography Gandhi Before India is an indispensable resource for a contemporary understanding of Gandhi's ever-evolving legacy.

Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1948

'A vivid, absorbing read' Sunday Times 'Magisterial' Literary Review The magnificent new biography of Gandhi by India's leading historian A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 Gandhi lived one of the great 20th-century lives. He inspired and enraged, challenged and galvanized many millions of men and women around the world. He lived almost entirely in the shadow of the British Raj, which for much of his life seemed a permanent fact, but which he did more than anyone else to destroy, using revolutionary tactics. In a world defined by violence on a scale never imagined before and by ferocious Fascist and Communist dictatorship, he was armed with nothing more than his arguments and example. This magnificent book tells the story of Gandhi's life, from his departure from South Africa to his assassination in 1948. It is a book with a Tolstoyan sweep, both allowing us to see Gandhi as he was understood by his contemporaries and the vast, varied Indian societies and landscapes which he travelled through and changed beyond measure. Drawing on many new sources and animated by its author's wonderful sense of drama and politics, Gandhi is a major reappraisal of the crucial years in this titanic figure's story.

The Years That Changed the World

Gandhi 1914-1948

Here is the first volume of a magisterial biography of Mohandas Gandhi that gives us the most illuminating portrait we have had of the life, the work and the historical context of one of the most abidingly influential—and controversial—men in modern history. Ramachandra Guha—hailed by Time as “Indian democracy’s preeminent chronicler”—takes us from Gandhi’s birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi’s contemporaries and co-workers; contemporary newspapers and court documents; the writings of Gandhi’s children; and secret files kept by British Empire functionaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: “Great Soul.” And, more clearly than ever before, he elucidates how Gandhi’s work in South Africa—far from being a mere prelude to his accomplishments in India—was profoundly influential in his evolution as a family man, political thinker, social reformer and, ultimately, beloved leader. In 1893, when Gandhi set sail for South Africa, he was a twenty-three-year-old lawyer who had failed to establish himself in India. In this remarkable biography, the author makes clear the fundamental ways in which Gandhi’s ideas were shaped before his return to India in 1915. It was during his years in England and South Africa, Guha shows us, that Gandhi came to understand the nature of imperialism and racism; and in South Africa that he forged the philosophy and techniques that would undermine and eventually overthrow the British Raj. Gandhi Before India gives us equally vivid portraits of the man and the world he lived in: a world of sharp contrasts among the coastal culture of his birthplace, High Victorian London, and colonial South Africa. It explores in abundant detail Gandhi’s experiments with dissident cults such as the Tolstoyans; his friendships with radical Jews, heterodox Christians and devout Muslims; his enmities and rivalries; and his often overlooked failures as a husband and father. It tells the dramatic, profoundly moving story of how Gandhi inspired the devotion of thousands of followers in South Africa as he mobilized a cross-class and inter-religious coalition, pledged to non-violence in their battle against a brutally racist regime. Researched with unequaled depth and breadth, and written with extraordinary grace and clarity, Gandhi Before India is, on every level, fully commensurate with its subject. It will radically alter our understanding and appreciation of twentieth-century India’s greatest man.

Gandhi Before India

Opening in July 1914, as Mohandas Gandhi leaves South Africa to return to India, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1918 traces the Mahatma’s life over the three decades preceding his assassination. Drawing on new archival materials, acclaimed historian Ramachandra Guha follows Gandhi’s struggle to deliver India from British rule, to forge harmonious relations between India’s Hindus and Muslims, to end the pernicious practice of untouchability, and to nurture India’s economic and moral self-reliance. He shows how in each of these campaigns, Gandhi adapted methods of nonviolence that successfully challenged British authority and would influence revolutionary movements throughout the world. A revelatory look at the complexity of Gandhi’s thinking and motives, the book is a luminous portrait of not only the man himself, but also those closest to him—family, friends, and political and social leaders.

The life of Mohandas Gandhi is one of the most remarkable and potent in the modern era. The 20th century seemed to be dominated by dictators and a ferocious militarism, yet what has proved far more significant - whether in ending racism and imperialism, or in the Arab Spring - is the legacy of a lawyer from a small town in western India who never held a weapon or governed a state. In this fascinating new biography Ramachandra Guha allows us to understand the personality and politics of Mohandas Gandhi as never before. His key argument is that Gandhi's ideas were fundamentally shaped before his return to India in 1915. His formative years were spent in England and South Africa, where he developed the techniques that would undermine and ultimately destroy the British Empire. Gandhi Before Indiais extraordinarily vivid as a portrait both of Gandhi and of the world he lived in, a world of sharp contrasts between the coastal culture of Gujarat, High Victorian London and colonial South Africa, where settlers from India, Britain and elsewhere battled for their share of this rich and newly despoiled land. It was his experiences in Natal and the Transvaal that made Gandhi great. As the iron framework of the South African racial state was fixed into place, Gandhi mobilized a popular movement pledged to cultural pluralism and non-violence. Among his devoted followers were Muslim merchants, Hindu labourers, heterodox Christians and radical Jews. Drawing on many new sources located in archives across four continents, Gandhi Before Indiais beautifully written, sensitively exploring the many facets of his subject's life and struggles. This is the biography of the year. Praise for India After Gandhi 'Finally, here is a history of democratic India that is every bit as sweeping as the country itself . . . One of the many strengths ofIndia After Gandhiis the wealth and breadth of its resources . . . a magisterial work.' Edward Luce, Financial Times 'Guha is a scholar of astounding energy and ingenuity . . . a fascinating, kaleidoscopic narrative.' Sunil Khilnani, Daily Telegraph 'A stunning work - an instant classic . . . Well-researched and fact-filled but still eloquent.' San Francisco Chronicle Book Review 'Guha has produced a superb, gloriously detailed book that is essential reading for anybody with a serious interest in modern India . . . A brilliant and beautifully balanced book.' Independent

For The First Time Within The Covers Of A Single Volume, We Find An Informal, Anecdotal, And Immensely Readable History Of Indian Cricket.

Anecdotal Histories

The States of Indian Cricket

The Indian History of a British Sport

A Corner of a Foreign Field

Democrats and Dissenters

This omnibus edition brings together three seminal works by one of India's best-known historians and environmentalists Ramachandra Guha 'The Unquiet Woods', 'A Global History ' and 'Savaging the Civilised'.

The Ramachandra Guha Omnibus

Makers of Modern India

From one of India's finest writers, thinkers and commentators, a memoir of a love affair with cricket. As a fan, player, writer, scholar, controversialist and administrator, Ramachandra Guha has spent a life with cricket. In this book, Guha offers both a brilliantly charming memoir and a charter of the life of cricket in India. He traces the game across every level at which it is played: school, college, club, state and country. He offers vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons and international stars. Following the narrative of his life intertwined and in love with the sport, Guha captures the magic of bat and ball that has ensnared billions.

The Commonwealth of Cricket

Patriots & Partisans

‘A narrative of startling originality ... As discussions of Britain’s colonial legacy become increasingly polarised, we are in ever more need of nuanced books like this one’ SAM DALRYMPLE, SPECTATOR ‘Fascinating and provocative’ LITERARY REVIEW

Ramachandra Guha

About

Books

Join the club