The first volume of what may be the definitive biography of Mohandas Gandhi, Ramachandra Guha's Gandhi Before India covers the years from Gandhi's birth in 1869 through his departure from South Africa in July, 1914. Biographers have often treated Gandhi's earlier life--especially his two decades working in South Africa--as a mere warm-up for leading the struggle for Indian independence. Guha (India After Gandhi) gives this period serious and detailed attention, arguing that such attention is necessary if we are to understand both "how the Mahatma was made" and Gandhi's critical role in South African history.
Guha not only draws on Gandhi's own writings from and about this period, but also uses a wide range of contemporaneous sources, from Gandhi's childhood school reports to secret files kept by the South African government. By focusing on those records rather than retrospective accounts, he overturns some accepted "truths" and introduces new elements to a familiar story. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the book are the side excursions that illuminate elements of Gandhi's life: among them, the history of vegetarianism in England and Johannesburg as a cultural and intellectual melting pot.
Gandhi Before India is a step-by-step account of how an uninspiring member of a Gujurati merchant caste transcended the conventions of his caste, class, religious and ethnic background to become one of the most important figures of the 20th century. --Pamela Toler, blogging at History in the Margins