The definitive and first non-partisan biography of one of the most formidable political figures of the twentieth century (voted Woman of the Millennium in a BBC poll, 2000)

The first major biography of Indira Gandhi covers the breadth and scope of 20th-century India and the woman who left her indelible mark on that troubled country. Both widely supported and bitterly opposed, she was eventually removed from office, only to make a stunning comeback.

A loving daughter, a caring mother, an affectionate grandmother a confident globetrotter and finally prime minister, Indira slipped into each role with ease.’ The story of India's first woman prime minister is no ordinary story. It is the story of a girl for whom sacrifice and loss came early. For whom growing up meant seeing her father drift in and out of jail and a mother in and out of hospital. Wearing khadi and organizing her own band of troops. Combating loneliness and giving up the things she loved for a bigger cause. With the freedom struggle playing out in the background Indira Gandhi's life was inextricably linked to the politics and destiny of her country. In this compelling biography, Sreelata Menon vividly recreates the life and times of a young girl who goes on to become one of the most powerful and charismatic leaders of the world. Filled with little-known facts about Indira Gandhi’s life this book is a fascinating read that brings to light the different facets of her personality.

When Indira Gandhi was brutally assassinated in 1984, she had lived through India's tortured liberation from the British Empire, the bloody era of partition and the monumental difficulties associated with creating and sustaining the world's largest and most troubled democratic nation. This unique, intimate biography of one of the first women heads of state in modern history shows Indira growing from the shy daughter of the great Jawaharlal Nehru to the accomplished politician she eventually became. Very few people knew Indira beyond the facade, and there has been nothing written about her that illumines the conflicting aspects of her character: aloof but charming; lonely but ferocious in defense of her own - particularly her son Sanjay; sensitive and cultivated but capable of cold arrogance; devoted to her nation but blind to some of the cruelties she inflicted; a warm mother and grandmother but a calculating politician. A friend of Indira's for more than thirty years, Pupul Jayakar is uniquely qualified to assess and illuminate this complex woman in depth. Jayakar reveals Indira's thoughts and feelings, her loves and emotional entanglements, her blunders and her great courage. She is also able to situate the Nehru family in the context of modern Indian history in a way that is vivid to the Western reader. In Indira Gandhi, Pupul Jayakar gives us a penetrating but balanced account of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable women, a towering figure whose virtues and vices will be debated for a long time to come.

Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India for over sixteen years, was a brave freedom fighter and a passionate patriot, deeply committed to the honour and integrity of India. She was also a devoted mother and grandmother, who was great fun to be with—she loved books, nature, art, sports and puzzles. Born into the illustrious Nehru family in Allahabad, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was educated at Santiniketan, Geneva and Oxford, and was determined since childhood to serve the people of India. This biography, with a foreword by Rajiv Gandhi, and illustrated with rare photographs, portrays very simply but eloquently the life of the ‘Iron Lady of India’ from her birth on 19 November 1917 to her assassination on 31 October 1984.

The gripping story of an explosive turning point in the history of modern India On the night of June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, suspending constitutional rights and rounding up her political opponents in midnight raids across the country. In the twenty-one harrowing months that followed, her regime unleashed a brutal campaign of coercion and intimidation, arresting and torturing people by the tens of thousands, razing slums, and imposing compulsory sterilization on the poor. Emergency Chronicles provides the first comprehensive account of this understudied episode in India’s modern history. Gyan Prakash strips away the comfortable myth that the Emergency was an isolated event brought on solely by Gandhi’s desire to cling to power, arguing that it was as much the product of Indian democracy’s troubled relationship with popular politics. Drawing on archival records, private papers and letters, published sources, film and literary materials, and interviews with victims and perpetrators, Prakash traces the Emergency’s origins to the moment of India’s independence in 1947, revealing how the unfulfilled promise of democratic transformation upset the fine balance between state power and civil rights. He vividly depicts the unfolding of a political crisis that culminated in widespread popular unrest, which Gandhi sought to crush by paradoxically using the law to suspend lawful rights. Her failure to preserve the existing political order had lasting and unforeseen repercussions, opening the door for caste politics and Hindu nationalism. Placing the Emergency within the broader global history of democracy, this gripping book offers invaluable lessons for us today as the world once again confronts the dangers of rising authoritarianism and populist nationalism.

Ramachandra Guha’s India after Gandhi is a magisterial account of the pains, struggles, humiliations and glories of the world’s largest and least likely democracy. A riveting chronicle of the often brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation, and of the extraordinary individuals and institutions who held it together, it established itself as a classic when it was first published in 2007. In the last decade, India has witnessed, among other things, two general elections; the fall of the Congress and the rise of Narendra Modi; a major anti-corruption movement; more violence against women, Dalits, and religious minorities; a wave of prosperity for some but the persistence of poverty for others; comparative peace in Nagaland but greater discontent in Kashmir than ever before. This tenth anniversary edition, updated and expanded, brings the narrative up to the present. Published to coincide with seventy years of the country’s independence, this definitive history of modern India is the work of one of the world’s finest scholars at the height of his powers.

Indira Gandhi's life spanned over two-thirds of a century. By the time of her brutal assassination in 1984, she had established herself as the most significant political leader India had seen since the death of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru. In this book, written with the close cooperation of her subject, Pupul Jayakar seeks to uncover the many personalities that lay hidden within Mrs Gandhi. Much more than a political biography, the book reveals the complex personality of Indira Gandhi-her thoughts and feelings, her hates and prejudices, her insights and her faults, her loves and emotional entanglements. Full of startling insights, Indira Gandhi: A Biography paints a magnificent portrait-at once empathetic and unprejudiced-of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable women.

Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, fondly known as Sam Bahadur, was one of the greatest war heroes and military leaders India has produced. He became a household name in India and was hailed as a legendary soldier and an inspiration to his fellow citizens for crafting India's greatest military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war as Chief of Staff (1969-73) of the Indian armed forces. Spanning four decades, he served the country gloriously through five wars—World War II, The Indo-Pakistani War of Partition (1947), the Sino-Indian War (1962), and the India-Pakistan wars (1965 and 1971). The first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the five-star rank of Field Marshal, Sam Bahadur continues to be the most admired war hero of our army chiefs. He will remain an example of self-sacrifice, personal bravery, and steadfast devotion to duty that began before India's independence, and will deservedly live in the annals of the military history of India forever.