An excellent and much needed book. The major works on Nehru were written several decades ago. I will use this in my graduate
course. It is written in a clear and straight forward style
that makes it easy to read. I particularly appreciate Tharoor's
picture of the power of Nehru in India and internationally.
Nehru's tremendous influence on the decolonial movement is
often forgotten today. If there is any weakness, I would have
liked Tharoor to have explored more Gandhi's influence on Nehru.

August 18, 2006

Wonderful Reading Experience

Shashi Tharoor's latest book is a most enjoyable interpretive history of Nehru's amazing life. I felt as if Tharoor was travelling with me as I read in trains and planes, talking directly to me. He brought me to tears when Nehru died -- very hard to do using non-fiction. A delightful book -- warm, generous and globally aware, it's a wonderful reading experience. Tharoor gives us a better context for understanding a contradictory statesman, and made me wonder what Nehru and the freedom fighters would think of India and the world today. My only criticism: it's too short!
September 20, 2005

Thin.

Hits all the high points. Tharoor's occasional protestations of objectivity about Nehru ring hollow; this book is objective only in tone. Nehru's contradictions are glossed over as if merely a source of amusement, but Jinna is treated as a pathological cynic, and the British are alternately inept and reactionary. Tharoor's treatment of Churchill is as harsh as it is shallow. This book reads very quickly, and is good for people who want a quick bio of Nehru. For people who want a real examination of the man, look elsewhere.
April 13, 2005

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond
by Shashi Tharoor

The Elephant, The Tiger, And the Cell Phone: Reflections on India, the Emerging 21st-Century Power
by Shashi Tharoor

The Great Indian Novel
by Shashi Tharoor

The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity
by Amartya Sen

In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India
by Edward Luce