Nehru: A Biography (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Indian consensus that Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) constructed as the nation's first prime minister, Tharoor writes with unsparing objectivity, "has frayed: democracy endures, secularism is besieged, nonalignment is all but forgotten, and socialism barely clings on." Nehru seems "curiously dated, a relic of another era." His goal of creating "a just state by just means" has been undermined by the centrifugal forces of Indian religious and cultural divisiveness. Tharoor's short and highly readable life never lacks for pithy phrases and strong opinions. A senior U.N. official, Tharoor (India: From Midnight to the Millennium) writes with shrewd wit and cautious ambivalence about Nehru, whom he admires as the Thomas Jefferson of India-a foe of colonialism, a statesman of grace and style and a master of uplifting words-but whose leadership failed in forcefulness and whose political heirs were without his charm. Nehru's privileged Kashmiri background and Harrow-Cambridge education left him replete with paradoxes-a reserved aristocrat yet a near Marxist, a demigod (to the masses) and a democrat (to himself), a political prisoner of the British for nine years who was even more a prisoner to his own "vainglory," an idealist with "a moralism that stood somewhere to the left of morality." Tharoor's distant villain is the curmudgeonly Winston Churchill, whose staunch "racist imperialism," particularly toward India, made his "subsequent beatification as an apostle of freedom... all the more preposterous." This engaging short biography is a scrutiny of a major 20th-century leader from his "Little Lord Fauntleroy" beginnings to his transformation into a historic figure wearing a halo in his own lifetime.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Tharoor presents an uncomplicated overview of Nehru's life that is, with rare exceptions, an admiring one. True, the author admits, Nehru hung on to power too long, dying in harness in 1964, but the ledger definitely is positive in Tharoor's accounting. Tharoor confines his opinions to asides, however, and directly narrates Nehru's personal chronology: his education in England; his arranged marriage and attachment to daughter Indira; and, naturally, his political relationships during the protests of the 1920s and 1930s and the negotiations of 1945-47 that eventuated in such tragedy. Readers new to Nehru will receive an efficient introduction by Tharoor. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1 edition (November 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155970697X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559706971
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #172,928 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book, November 19, 2003

By	"rkhurana" (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

As a young Indian child growing up in America, I heard stories about India's independence movement from my parents. I was told about Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. I had trouble believing that a single individual could have so much impact on the world. After reading, Shashi Tharoor's book, I've changed my mind.

Tharoor's analysis of the intertwining between an individual's biography and the birth of a nation is masterful. The book stays close to its subject, Nehru, but then ventures to link his biography to many of the Indian institutions we now take for granted, including: secularism, democracy, non-alignment, and the country's prowess in science and math. This is a highly readable book and I strongly recommend it to any reader interested in learning about India, its culture, and its first leader.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Calling Tharoor a "Nehru-apologist" is a disservice, June 24, 2004

By	B. Deshpande "Flamenco Al" (Detroit, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some recent reviews in Indian press (www.rediff.com, in particular) convey the impression that Tharoor is a shameless Nehru apologist. This is very unfair in my opinion.

Consider this excerpt: "For most of first five decades since independence, India has pursued an economic policy of subsidizing unproductivity, regulating stagnation, and distributing poverty. Nehru called this socialism". Of course, Tharoor tries to balance his views on why Nehru may have pursued the policies he did. Prominently Nehru's mistrust of big business and western capitalism.

All in all a very readable book. Could have thrown in some photgraphs of the era to make it a good collectible. Unfortunately there are none.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true international leader - way ahead of his time, March 29, 2006

By	avarma "avarma" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Nehru was a great blend of idealism and 'courage to act' on that idealism. This book provides various examples of Nehru's courage including:
1) When Nehru physically fights a Hindu attacking a Muslim during the riots (shortly after India's independence). When the attacker realizes who it is - he backs away - the story spreads - leading most Muslims to start trusting Nehru over their own communal leaders.
2) Nehru openly and fiercely attacked Mussolini, Nazis and every form of fascism in Europe. He predicted that if the fascists were not stopped - it would lead to a 2nd world war. He also blamed England (Churchill) for having the power to stop these madmen but not doing enough before the start of the war. There are specific examples in this book about the 'its business as usual' attitude of Britain towards the ongoing Nazi brutalities prior to 1939.
3) It seems Nehru was truly blind to any form of discrimination. He adamantly refused to accept any communal division in India - claiming that there was no 'Hindu Indian' or 'Muslim India' - just one united India - regardless of how much ever the British tried to create communal divide.
Talk about ungraceful exits - the British ensured that they made the task of managing a free India (after their departure) a nightmare. They did everything they could to fuel communal tensions (including providing legislature seats based specifically on 'religion'. Granted - Jinnah's contribution to requesting these type of seats was part of the equation - however - the British leadership had the power to not buy into any communal divide.)

While younger generations in India blame Nehru somewhat for his socialist tendencies - and not doing enough - anyone who reads this biography will be convinced that Nehru did more than one man's fair share (he spent over 9 years of his life in jail - and continually courted arrest rather than back down on his stance or withdraw his anti-British statements).

Shashi Tharoor's writing style makes this book flow well - and his touches of humor are brilliant.