Judith Brown explores Nehru as a figure of power and provides an assessment of his leadership at the head of a newly independent India with no tradition of democratic politics.

A study of Jawaharlal Nehru, an Indian nationalists who led India to independence and served as Prime Minister from 1947 until his death.

As Prime Minister Nehru steered India through her early, formative years as one of the world's great nations. This is not his biography—though the biographical details are clearly set out—but instead is a study of Nehru as a figure of power. In it, Judith M. Brown explores a number of related themes. This account will reward anyone interested in the making of our modern world. One of its rewards is the general introduction it provides to the society and politics of India in the early and middle years of the century.

By the end of the twentieth century some nine million people of South Asian descent had left India, Bangladesh or Pakistan and settled in different parts of the world, forming a diverse and significant modern diaspora. In the early nineteenth century, many left reluctantly to seek economic opportunities which were lacking at home. This is the story of their often painful experiences in the diaspora, how they constructed new social communities overseas and how they maintained connections with the countries and the families they had left behind. It is a story compellingly told by one of the premier historians of modern South Asia, Judith Brown, whose particular knowledge of the diaspora in Britain and South Africa gives her insight as a commentator. This is a book which will have a broad appeal to general readers as well as to students of South Asian and colonial history, migration studies and sociology.

By the end of the twentieth century some nine million people of South Asian descent had left India, Bangladesh or Pakistan and settled in different parts of the world, forming a diverse and significant modern diaspora. In the early nineteenth century, many left reluctantly to seek economic opportunities which were lacking at home. This is the story of their often painful experiences in the diaspora, how they constructed new social communities overseas and how they maintained connections with the countries and the families they had left behind. It is a story compellingly told by one of the premier historians of modern South Asia, Judith Brown, whose particular knowledge of the diaspora in Britain and South Africa gives her insight as a commentator. This is a book which will have a broad appeal to general readers as well as to students of South Asian and colonial history, migration studies and sociology.

The reversion of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 is an event of major historical significance. This volume examines this dramatic event from a long-term perspective against the background of earlier turning points in Hong Kong's political, economic and social history. It also explores Hong Kong's links with China and Britain in this troubled last decade of colonial rule, and offers a basis for assessing the territory's possible future as a part of the Chinese state.

The reversion of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 is an event of major historical significance. This volume examines this dramatic event from a long-term perspective against the background of earlier turning points in Hong Kong's political, economic and social history. It also explores Hong Kong's links with China and Britain in this troubled last decade of colonial rule, and offers a basis for assessing the territory's possible future as a part of the Chinese state.

The large-scale migration of Asian peoples has been a major force of historical change in the twentieth century. This volume examines some of the significant flows of migrants within and beyond Asia. Some of the chapters are broad canvasses describing world-wide diaspora: for example, the Parsis or Chinese abroad. Others deal with more localized movements such as Muslims from India to Pakistan. The book focuses on migration as a long-term process and experience, often spanning several generations and building on established traditions of movement. Its approach is multidisciplinary, drawing on the skills of sociologists, anthropologists, historians, comparative theologians, geographers and specialists in international relations. It is offered both as academic study and to give non-specialists insight into the processes that now make up our diverse societies.

Dr Brown presents a political study of the first clearly defined period in Mahatma Gandhi's Indian career, from 1915 to 1922. The period began with Gandhi's return from South Africa as a stranger to Indian politics, witnessed his dramatic assertion of leadership in the Indian National Congress of 1920 and ended with his imprisonment by the British after the collapse of his all-India civil disobedience movement against the raj. Focusing on Gandhi, this book nevertheless investigates the changing nature of Indian politics. It aims to study precisely what Gandhi did, on whom he relied for support, how he interacted with other nationalist leaders and how he saw his own role in Indian public life. Unlike the usual interpretation of Gandhi's rise to power as based on a charismatic appeal to the Indian masses, this study argues that his influence depended on a capacity to generate a network of lesser leaders, or subcontractors, who would organise their constituencies for him, whether these were caste, communal or economic groups or whole areas.

Mahatma Gandhi's lengthy Indian career was of central importance in the development of Indian politics and the changing relationship of the British raj and its subjects. But the extent of his political influence and his role varied considerably at different times. This book is an analysis, based on new material, of the phase between 1928 and 1934 when Gandhi was leader of a continental campaign of civil disobedience against the Raj. During this time Gandhi emerged from the comparative political quiescence which had followed his initial rise to prominence in 1920 as architect of a campaign of non-cooperation with the Raj. He resumed a crucial role as leader of the Congress movement against the British. At the peak of his political influence he negotiated a 'pact' with the Viceroy by which the civil disobedience campaign - most graphically illustrated in the famous Salt March to Dandi - was suspended.

This comprehensive Gandhi reader provides an essential new reference for scholars and students of his life and thought. It is the only text available that presents Gandhi's own writings, including excerpts from three of his books An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Satyagraha in South Africa, Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)-a major pamphlet, Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place, and many journal articles and letters along with a biographical sketch of his life in historical context and recent essays by highly regarded scholars. The writers of these essays hailing from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and India, with academic credentials in several different disciplines examine his nonviolent campaigns, his development of programs to unify India, and his impact on the world in the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. Gandhi's Experiments with Truth provides an unparalleled range of scholarly material and perspectives on this enduring philosopher, peace activist, and spiritual guide."

On Pietermaritzburg station in 1893 a young Indian lawyer, newly arrived in South Africa, was ejected from a train to Pretoria for insisting on his right to travel first class. It was to the cold night hours spent in the waiting-room that Gandhi himself traced the genesis of his great resolve - to fight injustice by non-violent means. Crucial as this episode was, it was but one of the manifold influences which shaped the Gandhi-to-be during his sojourn in South Africa. This title arose from a conference held a century later, in 1993, at the Universtiy of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, to reaffirm the South African Gandhi. It traces some of the influences which effected his transformation from an unsuccessful and insecure young man to a mature political and spiritual leader ready to carve his niche in history after his return to Indian in 1914. The Mahatma's moral vision, of a way to resolve conflict and right injustice without resorting to violence, remains relevant to post-apartheid South Africa and to the world. It also remains a difficult vision to grasp; but a better understanding of his vital formative years will perhaps help to make it more accessible.

Christianity has long been one of India's religious traditions, but the extent to which the faith has influenced Indian society and culture has never been well documented. This important book is the first to do so. Here a group of historians, missiologists, and religion scholars examines the fascinating but little known history of missionary Christianity in India, showing how it has played a significant role in the development of modern India at every level. Chapters deal with the interaction between Christianity and India's high culture, with aspects of conversion among tribal people and outcasts beneath the hierarchy of Hindu society, and with the development of Indian churches and their relation to the wider culture.

Contributors:

Peter B. Andersen
Michael Bergunder
Judith M. Brown
Susan Billington Harper
Beppe G. Karlsson
Indira Viswanathan Peterson
Avril A. Powell
Gerald Studdert-Kennedy
John C. B. Webster
Richard Fox Young

This comprehensive Gandhi reader provides an essential new reference for scholars and students of his life and thought. It is the only text available that presents Gandhi's own writings, including excerpts from three of his books An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Satyagraha in South Africa, Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)-a major pamphlet, Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place, and many journal articles and letters along with a biographical sketch of his life in historical context and recent essays by highly regarded scholars. The writers of these essays hailing from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and India, with academic credentials in several different disciplines examine his nonviolent campaigns, his development of programs to unify India, and his impact on the world in the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. Gandhi's Experiments with Truth provides an unparalleled range of scholarly material and perspectives on this enduring philosopher, peace activist, and spiritual guide."

The definitive biography of one of this century's most important-and controversial-figures. Drawing on sources only recently made available, Judith M. Brown sketches a fresh and surprising portrait of Gandhi within the context of his time, in which the Indian leader emerges as neither a plaster saint nor a wily politician, but as a complex man whose actions followed honorably from his convictions. "This is the best biography of Gandhi so far and deserves to be read by everyone interested in him and in modern India."-Bhikhu Parekh, New Statesman and Society "Judith Brown has written the most systematic, balanced, and clear biography of Gandhi I have yet seen."-Howard Spodek, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science "In fascinating detail, Brown chronicles the fate of nonviolent tactics in South Africa and, after 1915, in India, where Gandhi-now clad in loincloth and sandals-quickly became a patriotic hero."-Jim Miller, Newsweek "It is a superb book, elegantly written, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Gandhi as well as the social context which helped to mould him as a man and a politician."-Tariq Ali, Guardian "This is as fine an exposition of Gandhi's religious beliefs as we are likely to get. ... [Brown] has clearly established herself as [Gandhi's] leading interpreter to her generation."-Antony Copley, History Today Judith M. Brown is Beit Professor of the History of the British Commonwealth at Oxford University.

'those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means' Mahatma Gandhi was a profound and original thinker as well as one of the most influential figures in the history of the twentieth century. A religious and social reformer, he became a notable leader in the Indian nationalist movement, made famous for his advocacy of non-violent civil resistance. His many and varied writings are essentially responses to the specific challenges he faced, and they show his maturing ideas and political will, as well as his spirituality and humanity, over several decades. This new selection demonstrates how his thinking was truly radical, dealing with problems from the roots upwards: in the lives of individuals, of societies, and of political structures. It underlines the supreme importance of non-violence, and Gandhi's unique and unrealized vision of a new India after the departure of the British. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.