Mahatma Gandhi: References & Edit History

Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 2 vol. (1927–29, originally published in Gujarati; reissued in 1 vol., 1983, and in numerous subsequent editions and reprintings), tells the story of his life up to 1921, and his Satyagraha in South Africa, 2nd rev. ed. (1961, reprinted 1972), illuminates the formative two decades he spent in South Africa. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 100 vol. 6th rev. ed. (2000–01), includes all his writings, speeches, and letters.

A useful introductory volume is Judith M. Brown and Anthony Parel (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi (2011), which includes a biography of Gandhi and a selection of his writings. H.S.L. Polak, H.N. Brailsford, and Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Mahatma Gandhi (1949), reissued as Mahatma Gandhi: The Father of Modern India (1986), is also a good introduction for Western readers.

The biography Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1965–66), provides a richly documented chronicle of Gandhi’s early and last years written by his former secretary. Sudhir Ghosh, Gandhi’s Emissary (1967, reissued 2008), is an autobiographical memoir of Gandhi’s informal agent to the British government in 1945–48. Dinanath G. Tendulkar, Mahatma, rev. ed., 8 vol. (1960–63, reprinted 1969), tells the story of Gandhi’s life mostly in Gandhi’s own words extracted from his published writings. Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1951, reissued 1997), is based largely on printed sources but includes the author’s vivid personal impressions of Gandhi and India in the 1940s; Bal Ram Nanda, Mahatma Gandhi: A Biography (1958, reissued 2008), is a story of Gandhi’s life as well as a critique of his thought and makes use of unpublished government records and correspondence of Gandhi. Penderel Moon, Gandhi and Modern India (1969), reflects a British administrator’s views on Gandhi the politician. Horace Alexander, Gandhi Through Western Eyes, 2nd ed. (1984); and Geoffrey Ashe, Gandhi: A Study in Revolution (1968), are sympathetic and analytical studies. Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi (1969, reissued 1997), is a well-researched biography, with emphasis on the personal rather than political aspect.

Erik H. Erikson, Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence (1969, reissued 1993), illuminates Gandhi’s life and technique by bringing to bear on them the insights of psychoanalysis. Another psychological biography is E. Victor Wolfenstein, The Revolutionary Personality: Lenin, Trotsky, Gandhi (1967, reprinted 2015). Also informative are Joseph J. Doke, M.K. Gandhi: An Indian Patriot in South Africa (1909, reprinted 2006); Calvin Kytle, Gandhi: Soldier of Nonviolence, rev. ed. (1982); and Gerald Gold, Gandhi: A Pictorial Biography (1983, reissued 2009).

Robert A. Huttenback, Gandhi in South Africa: British Imperialism and the Indian Question, 1860–1914 (1971), is a study of the Indian community’s struggle in South Africa; and Shanti Sadiq Ali (ed.), Gandhi & South Africa (1994), is a collection of seminar papers. Judith M. Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power: Indian Politics 1915–1922 (1972), and Gandhi and Civil Disobedience: The Mahatma in Indian Politics, 1928–34 (1977, reprinted 2008), present Gandhi’s role in Indian politics and the nationalist movement, and her Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope (1989, reprinted 1998), explores Gandhi’s personality. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma (1983), which discusses Gandhi’s remaining influence, was expanded and revised as Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in the World and at Home (2006). Francis G. Hutchins, India’s Revolution: Gandhi and the Quit India Movement (1973), is an interpretive study of the campaign against British rule during World War II. Gene Sharp, Gandhi as a Political Strategist: With Essays on Ethics and Politics (1979, reissued 1999), is a study of the relation of pacifist principles to political techniques; and J.D. Sethi, Gandhi Today (1978), includes an analysis of Gandhian economics.

Among the books containing reminiscences of Gandhi, the more important are Millie Graham Polak, Mr. Gandhi: The Man, 2nd ed. (1950); Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography (1936, reissued 2004); S. Radhakrishnan (ed.), Mahatma Gandhi: Essays and Reflections of His Life and Work, 9th enlarged ed. (1998); Chandrashanker Shukla (ed.), Incidents of Gandhiji’s Life (1949); Nirmal Kumar Bose, My Days with Gandhi (1953, reissued 1999); Eli Stanley Jones, Mahatma Gandhi: An Interpretation (1948); and Vincent Sheean, Lead, Kindly Light (1949). James D. Hunt, Gandhi in London, rev. ed. (1993), documents his five visits, with little-known details of those in 1906 and 1909. William L. Shirer, Gandhi: A Memoir (1979, reprinted 1993), is based on the author’s work as a journalist in India in the 1930s.

Among the books that are critical of Gandhi are B.R. Ambedkar, What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (1945, reissued 2012); C. Sankaran Nair, Gandhi and Anarchy, 3rd ed. (1923, reprinted 2000); and Indulal K. Yajnik, Gandhi as I Know Him, ed. rev. and enlarged (1943). Martin Green, The Challenge of the Mahatmas (1978), and Tolstoy and Gandhi: Men of Peace (1983), are the first and the last books of the author’s trilogy on great leaders and their influence. Raghavan N. Iyer, The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi (1973, reprinted 2000), compares his concepts with those of Western thinkers. Arne Naess, Gandhi and the Nuclear Age (1965), and Gandhi and Group Conflict (1974), explore basic principles and assumptions of Gandhi’s philosophical system. Glyn Richards, The Philosophy of Gandhi (1982, reprinted 2001), explores the relation of his ideas to Hindu metaphysics and to contemporary philosophy. Ved Mehta, Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles (1977, reprinted 1993), examines the spread of Gandhi’s ideas.

There are numerous anthologies of Gandhi’s writings. Ronald Duncan (ed.), Selected Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (1951, reissued 2005); and Krishna Kripalani (ed.), All Men Are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as Told in His Own Words (1958), reissued as All Men Are Brothers: Autobiographical Reflections (2011), include judicious selections for the general reader. The Words of Gandhi (1982, reissued 2012) is an illustrated selection of quotations, collected and edited by Richard Attenborough.