Gandhi and Churchill

In this fascinating work, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, historian Arthur Herman constructs, in detail, a dual biography of two of the greatest leaders of the 20th century: Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill.

Gandhi and Churchill tells the story of two important 20th-century political figures who still impact our era. Born into different worlds—the first into a religious home in rural India, the second into an aristocratic British family—their lives and careers intertwined as they engaged in forty years of rivalry that sealed the fate of India and the British Empire.

Throughout his long career, Winston Churchill did whatever was necessary to ensure that India remained under British rule. He even redrew the entire map of the Middle East and even jeopardized the alliance with the United States in World War II. Mahatma Gandhi, by contrast, dedicated his life to the liberation of his country, defying death and imprisonment, and creating an entirely new political movement: satyagraha, or civil disobedience. His nonviolent campaigns—especially his famous Salt March—would serve as a trial run and example not only for Indian independence, but also for the civil rights movement in the United States and freedom struggles around the world.

Drawing on meticulous research, Arthur Herman crafts a sweeping and powerful historical narrative of empire and insurrection, war and political intrigue, and features a fascinating supporting cast including General Kitchener, Rabindranath Tagore, Franklin Roosevelt, Lord Mountbatten, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

This impressive biography deconstructs the legends and myths created about these great figures, exposing their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, it is a brilliant parable about two powerful and charismatic men who were always haunted by personal failure, and who, at the end of their lives, had their greatest triumphs overshadowed by the loss of what they held most dear.