Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-302) and index.

Midnight in Calcutta -- Dawn in Gujarat -- The Impact of Victorian London -- Brief Interlude at Home -- Early Traumas and Triumphs in South Africa -- Between Two Worlds -- Satyagrapha in South Africa -- Victory through Suffering -- The Impact of World War I -- Postwar Carnage and Nationwide Satyagraha -- Cotton Spinning -- Rising of the Poison -- The Road Back to Satyagraha -- The Salt March and Prison Aftermath -- From Prison to London and Back -- Imprisoned Soul of India -- Return to Rural Uplift Work -- Prelude to War and Partition -- War and Peaceful Resistance -- War behind Bars -- No Peace -- Walking Alone -- Freedom's Wooden Loaf -- Great Soul's Death in Delhi -- His Indian Legacy -- His Global Legacy.

More than half a century after his death, Mahatma Gandhi continues to inspire millions throughout the world. Yet modern India, most strikingly in its decision to join the nuclear arms race, seems to have abandoned much of his nonviolent vision.

In this subtle and profound biography of India's "Great Soul," Stanley Wolpert compellingly chronicles the life of Mahatma Gandhi-from his early days as a child of privilege to his humble rise to power and his assassination at the hands of a man of his own faith. From his early campaigns to stop discrimination in South Africa to his leadership of a people's revolution to end the British imperial domination of India, Gandhi emerges as a man of inner conflicts obscured by political genius and moral vision. Influenced early on by nonviolent teachings in Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, and Buddhism, he came to insist on the primacy of love for one's adversary in any conflict as the power for change. His unyielding opposition to intolerance and oppression would inspire India like no leader since the Buddha-creating a legacy that would encourage Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and other global leaders to demand a better world through peaceful civil disobedience. By boldly considering Gandhi the man, Wolpert provides an unprecedented representation of Gandhi's personality and the profound complexities that propelled his actions and brought freedom to India.