Nehru: The Invention Of India

‘[Nehru] is a book for today, not heavy and cumbersome, but sharp and witty, and relevant not just to India, but to other countries as well’ —Biblio

This short, beautifully written biography examines a great figure of twentieth-century nationalism from the vantage point of the beginning of the twenty-first. Deftly weaving personal facets with historical events, it tells the fascinating story of Jawaharlal Nehru—aristocrat, socialist, anti-imperialist, foremost disciple of Gandhi, with whom he didn’t always see eye to eye, die-hard secularist and prime minister who sought to educate the Indian masses in democracy by his own personal example.

Shashi Tharoor also analyses the principal pillars of Nehru’s legacy to India: democratic institution building, staunch pan-Indian secularism, socialist economics at home and a foreign policy of non-alignment, all of which were integral to a vision of Indianness that is fundamentally contested today.

Praise for the Book

‘Exceedingly well-informed, passionately conceived and elegantly written’ —Outlook

‘It is a must read to understand the fact that with the passage of Nehru’s time the country’s intellect has narrowed tremendously’ —Telegraph

‘Sparkling, anecdotal and not necessarily controversial, [Nehru] is inventive in its own delightful way, low-keyed, unpretentious but highly readable’ —Free Press Journal

‘Shashi Tharoor is . . . full of verve and flashing insight. [Nehru] is a short, accessible, intelligent and lively book’ —The Washington Post