Fischer, Louis. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi

The Life of Mahatma Gandhi is a book written by Louis Fischer, and is a biographical account of the man first published in 1951.

Mahatma is a Sanskrit word made out of two other words. Maha means magnificent as in great, and Atma means soul. The highest recognition given to any human being is Mahatma. If you want to know why he received this title, then reading this book provides an accurate reason. This book captures much of Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for freedom for his people; it documents the conflict he experienced within and his struggle for peaceful civil rights. Of all the books about this person, I thought that this one was the most accurate and complete account of his life. Louis Fischer, a Jewish-American Journalist, has captured the historical events, as well as the subtler spirit of the man. This book also documents some of the horrific mistreatment of the Colonial British towards the Indians, and highlights the reason why Gandhi chose freedom. This book was also the basis for Sir Richard Attenborough's excellent film Gandhi. It highlights that you cannot rule any race of people with violence, abuse, oppression, and slavery. The human spirit will always resist and reject it. All human beings must have at the very least dignity and respect.

Paradoxically, racism and nationalism always achieves the opposite to what the person practising it expects. Perhaps out of misguided views, they think that it will make "their" country great, when in fact it makes it weaker. If we went back in time and prevented the racist train conductor from kicking the young Gandhi out of the first class train carriage, then the world we see today would be much different. In this alternate timeline, India would have belonged to the British, and the UK would have been much stronger. However, this one incident was indicative of a larger problem, because there were many racists who saw Indians as undesirable, inflicting violence upon them. The Indians loved the British; however, it was clear that the British did not love them in the same way.

Reading this book made me think that separation was probably for the best, however, the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh was a good indicator that the fate of the Indians was going to be the same as that of the Native American Indians, and the Native Aboriginal Indians, which was namely extermination. I believe that the best solution would have been a compromise, where everyone could live in peace and harmony, however it is easier said than done.

The partition, and how the state of Pakistan came to being, is also included in this book. It also covers the creation of "Pakistan", which loosely translates as "land of the pure" created for the pure Muslims. It also covers the wholesale destruction of Hindu temples, books, and people that ended up on the Pakistan side of the border. They did this in order to become pure, however it occurred to me that they can destroy everything, but they cannot deny the truth because all of their names, customs, language, science, and mathematics comes from India.

The author of this book was a highly experienced journalist, and he managed to find, uncover, capture, and document many of the events in a way that none others have. He has a very clear style of writing and therefore reading this book was a pleasure. I thought it remarkable that any Western journalist could have such a profound understanding of Indians; consequently, I thought the book had some value.

Mahatma Gandhi Biography

What I liked most about this book was how it captures some of Mahatma Gandhi's spirit of forgiveness. The one quality that made him such an effective civil rights leader was his ability to forgive those who inflicted pain and suffering on him. He not only forgave, but also treated the people he forgave with kindness. It will convey to the reader the importance of forgiveness, which is a sign of a highly evolved human being because only the strong can forgive, the weak cannot.

Louis Fischer

Louis Fischer was born on 29 February 1896, he was a Jewish-American journalist, who wrote many books including, The Life of Lenin, which won the 1965 National Book Award.

Specification