The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas

Mahatma Gandhi

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Nov 12, 2002 - Biography & Autobiography - 338 pages

Mohandas K. Gandhi, called Mahatma (“great soul”), was the father of modern India, but his influence has spread well beyond the subcontinent and is as important today as it was in the first part of the twentieth century and during this nation’s own civil rights movement. Taken from Gandhi’s writings throughout his life, The Essential Gandhi introduces us to his thoughts on politics, spirituality, poverty, suffering, love, non-violence, civil disobedience, and his own life. The pieces collected here, with explanatory head notes by Gandhi biographer Louis Fischer, offer the clearest, most thorough portrait of one of the greatest spiritual leaders the world has known.
“Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. . . . We may ignore him at our own risk.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

With a new Preface drawn from the writings of Eknath Easwaran

In the annals of spirituality certain books stand out both for their historical importance and for their continued relevance. The Vintage Spiritual Classics series offers the greatest of these works in authoritative new editions, with specially commissioned essays by noted contemporary commentators. Filled with eloquence and fresh insight, encouragement and solace, Vintage Spiritual Classics are incomparable resources for all readers who seek a more substantive understanding of mankind's relation to the divine.

What people are saying

Review: The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas

User Review  - Chris Jensen - Goodreads

This really is the essential Gandhi. Starting out I kind of had pre-set ideas of Gandhi and his beliefs. This was great to read in its entirety. You see Gandhi's views change over his life and I love ...

Review: The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas

User Review  - Jory Houser - Goodreads

Love reading Gandhi's writings. I read this and MLK's autobiography around the same time. It was good to read both at the same time. Two very purposeful nonviolent leaders who changed the world near the same time.

About the author

Mohandas Gandhi is well known as a political activist and pacifist who played a key role in achieving India's independence from Great Britain. Although born in Porbandar, India, to parents of the Vaisya (merchant) caste, he was given a modern education and eventually studied law in London. After returning briefly to India, Gandhi went to South Africa in 1893, where he spent the next 20 years working to secure Indian rights. It was during this time that he experimented with and developed his basic philosophy of life. Philosophically, Gandhi is best known for his ideas of satyagraha (truth-force) and ahimsa (nonharming). Intrinsic to the idea of truth-force is the correlation between truth and being; truth is not merely a mental correspondence with reality but a mode of existence. Hence, the power of the truth is not what one argues for but what one is. He developed this idea in conjunction with the principle of nonviolence, showing in his nationalist activities that the force of truth, expressed nonviolently, can be an irresistible political weapon against intolerance, racism, and social violence. Although his basic terminology and conceptual context were Hindu, Gandhi was impressed by the universal religious emphasis on the self-transformative power of love, drawing his inspiration from Christianity, Western philosophy, and Islam as well.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas; Vintage Books; Vintage Spiritual Classics
• Author: Mahatma Gandhi
• Editor: Louis Fischer
• Edition: 2, reprint
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2002
• ISBN: 1400030501, 9781400030507
• Length: 338 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Religious