The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer (1983) Ex Libris Used Books

A minor classic in biography, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi coincides with the release of a major motion picture from Columbia on the life of India’s saint and the greatest political leader of our century.

The Life of Mahatma Gandhi was hailed by critics when it first appeared thirty years ago. One reviewer said of it, “Louis Fischer has written the best life of Gandhi that has yet been done…. Indians understand naturally Gandhi’s point of view and actions, for he was an Indian among Indians. But for the average Western reader, having no background in the spirit of India, Gandhi remains inexplicable and at times even fantastic.”

Fischer, a superb historian and a friend of Gandhi’s, captured the man with extraordinary insight into those factors which eventually made him an inspiration to the world. Now re-issued in its entirety, his biography is as fresh and vital to our understanding of Gandhi as it was when it was written. In its pages we come to know and understand a man who said of himself, “People describe me as a saint trying to be a politician but the truth is the other way around.” How did the son of parents of modest means become the powerful leader of the most populous country in the world; what spiritual forces converted the British-trained lawyer into the saint who freed India and brought forth moral guidance for the entire world? Fischer’s biography answers these questions: his book remains an important and inspiring work -a classic- for old and new readers alike.