Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age
by Arthur Herman
List Price:
Our Price: $12.00
You Save: $18.00 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.91 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Arthur HermanEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-04-29
ISBN: 0553804634
Number of pages: 736
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age
Book Review: A Study in Intransigence
Summary: 3 Stars
Actually we have heard it all before how a brilliant and successful Indian lawyer who practiced as a barrister in London's Inns of Court, and in South Africa took on the British establishment in India, and how a scion of an aristocratic family both in and out of office opposed any logical attempt, or even discussion, of disestablishment.
Author, Arthur Herman, in his recently published GANDHI AND CHURCHILL brilliantly portrays the parallel lives (Gandhi was 5 years older then Churchill) and points up that they were more alike than different. They both served with distinction in the Boer War one as a journalist and one as an non-combatant and both were proud to be members of the British Imperial family. Gandhi believed that Britain's mission was to eventually grant independence to his home land, as a dominion or something similar. Churchill believed that something could be worked out but not in his life time. All this changed as a result of the massacre at Amritsar in 1919 where the occupying power overreached itself and turned Gandhi into a dedicated separatist. From 1920 onwards under the auspices of benign and often well meaning viceroys and promptings from London opportunities for a reasoned long term planning were lost because of the stubborness and intransigence of both men. Then add to the mix Nehru, father and son and the austere Moslem, Jinnah. Gandhi and Churchill met only once and exchanged correspondence once. The sub-continent of India could have remained one country if a plan had been followed but world events had taken precedence and the final transfer of power was made with precipitous haste.
We recommend this well-researched joint biography of an imperialist and war leader, and the martyred nationalist who created the new political movement of civil disobedience
Summary of Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age
In this fascinating and meticulously researched book, bestselling historian Arthur Herman sheds new light on two of the most universally recognizable icons of the twentieth century, and reveals how their forty-year rivalry sealed the fate of India and the British Empire.They were born worlds apart: Winston Churchill to Britain’s most glamorous aristocratic family, Mohandas Gandhi to a pious middle-class household in a provincial town in India. Yet Arthur Herman reveals how their lives and careers became intertwined as the twentieth century unfolded. Both men would go on to lead their nations through harrowing trials and two world wars—and become locked in a fierce contest of wills that would decide the fate of countries, continents, and ultimately an empire.
Gandhi & Churchill reveals how both men were more alike than different, and yet became bitter enemies over the future of India, a land of 250 million people with 147 languages and dialects and 15 distinct religions—the jewel in the crown of Britain’s overseas empire for 200 years.
Over the course of a long career, Churchill would do whatever was necessary to ensure that India remain British—including a fateful redrawing of the entire map of the Middle East and even risking his alliance with the United States during World War Two.
Mohandas Gandhi, by contrast, would dedicate his life to India’s liberation, defy death and imprisonment, and create an entirely new kind of political movement: satyagraha, or civil disobedience. His campaigns of nonviolence in defiance of Churchill and the British, including his famous Salt March, would become the blueprint not only for the independence of India but for the civil rights movement in the U.S. and struggles for freedom across the world.
Now master storyteller Arthur Herman cuts through the legends and myths about these two powerful, charismatic figures and reveals their flaws as well as their strengths. The result is a sweeping epic of empire and insurrection, war and political intrigue, with a fascinating supporting cast, including General Kitchener, Rabindranath Tagore, Franklin Roosevelt, Lord Mountbatten, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. It is also a brilliant narrative parable of two men whose great successes were always haunted by personal failure, and whose final moments of triumph were overshadowed by the loss of what they held most dear.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History Reading for the Dedicated Reader Part III
Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the Worldby Margaret Macmillan
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-03-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
Counselor: A Life at the Edge of Historyby Ted Sorensen
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendshipby Jon Meacham
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2004-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.37
Price in other shops:
Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Ageby Arthur Herman
Bantam; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save Englandby Lynne Olson
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.36
Price in other shops:
The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecherby Debby Applegate
Three Leaves; Published: 2007-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.18
Price in other shops:
Boone: A Biographyby Robert Morgan
A Shannon Ravenel Book; Published: 2007-09-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.61
Price in other shops:
William Clark and the Shaping of the Westby Landon Y. Jones
Hill and Wang; Published: 2005-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Foundingof a Nationby Nancy Rubin Stuart
Beacon Press; Published: 2008-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.11
Price in other shops:
Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adamsby Lynne Withey
Touchstone; Published: 2002-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.83
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear Warby Michael Dobbs
Knopf; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.00
Price in other shops:
The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdomby Simon Winchester
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops:
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of Americaby Rick Perlstein
Scribner; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and Americaby Walter R. Borneman
Random House; Published: 2008-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.89
Price in other shops:
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean Warby David Halberstam
Hyperion; Published: 2007-09-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americanaby Peter Clarke
Bloomsbury Press; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.01
Price in other shops:
Counselor: A Life at the Edge of Historyby Ted Sorensen
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in Itby Arthur Herman
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2002-09-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45by Max Hastings
Knopf; Published: 2008-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
The Post-American Worldby Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.24
Price in other shops: