Reviews for Gandhi (DK Biography Series)

The average rating for Gandhi (DK Biography Series) based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-03 00:00:00 Steven Anderson Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in India. He was a devout Hindu and believed that everyone deserved to be treated with respect. During his time, India was ruled by the British crown and under that crown, Indians were subject to unfair laws created and dictated by the ruling class. Gandhi went on to become a lawyer and practiced law in South Africa, where he led successful nonviolent campaigns against the ruling White minority in the region. When he returned to India, he used what he learned in South Africa to champion for equal rights and independence for all Indians. He was assassinated on January 30, 1948 by a fellow Hindu that felt Gandhi showed too much care for Muslims that lived in India. I was interested in a biography about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, due to his influence on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King was so impressed by Gandhi and read everything about him. I have yet to come across anyone in my life to look up to that strongly. So to see a man take such an interest in another man's work and apply it to his life made me all the more curious. After reading this book, I can see why he made such an impression. Here is a man that is afforded privileges in life due to his status (caste) and he fights for others, even those that are considered beneath him such as the untouchables. As a Hindu, he has to wisdom to take the time to learn other people, going as far as to read the bible and work with Christians and Muslims among other religious believers. I felt that he placed his family in danger when he started his campaigns, but his wife was loyal in agreeing with her husband and even participating in demonstrations. Kasturba, his wife, did have her own voice, especially when she disagrees with allowing untouchables to be in close proximity of their home. I felt it was a privilege to learn about this prominent figure and will take the lesson of acceptance into my own life and get to know others of different religious faiths. Gandhi is presented as a believable, multidimensional character with both strengths and weaknesses. One weakness and strength of Gandhi is how he is easily influenced by others. It is a weakness because it tended to get him to abandon his principles. For example, a friend of his persuaded him to eat meat, even though he is a vegetarian by his religion, Hindu. He is also persuaded by Jan Christiaan Smuts to register in South Africa in which the government would abandon the Black Act and the taxes that were being imposed on Indians. It was a ploy of the South African government. Gandhi trusted them and they betrayed him. The Black Act required Indians in the Transvaal region of South Africa to be fingerprinted and to carry registration cards. He is also influenced by his brothers. When they get into trouble, they tended to back Gandhi against a wall, such as having him to go and ask a favor of a British officer when the brothers were in trouble. This teaches Gandhi a lesson to never look for a handout or favor from a friend. It is strength because it helps him to become a little stronger in his faith. He is influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy and Henry Stephens Salt. Some of the writers help to influence his nonviolence approach, such as Thoreau and Tolstoy influenced him to start ashrams. Text and illustrations (photos) appear to have been researched. The photos coincide with the text, such as photos of Gandhi with the Vegetarian Society in 1890 during his time in London, when he is influenced by the book A Plea for Vegetarianism by Henry Stephens Salt. There are also photos of Gandhi during his hunger strike that show the frailty in his body, and the determination for his cause by continuing, as the text goes in depth about the reason for the strike

Review # 2 was written on 2010-11-03 00:00:00 Anand Modha This book, Gandhi is biography about Gandhi who is one of the important people in Indian history. I picked this book because personally, I really like Gandhi. In 10th grade, I learned about Gandhi and his achievement in history class. After I learned about that, I really think what Gandhi did to get back his country's freedom is great achievement. I do respect his non-violent policy and I thought people should learn from Gandhi's achievements. But, before I read this book I didn't know about his personal life since history textbook doesn't deal about his personal life. So I wanted to know his personal life such as his school life or marriage. I really enjoyed reading this book because the book is about the person who I admire. So, I could concentrate well than when I was reading other books. In addition, I was quite surprised about his personal life because I thought that Gandhi would never do bad things in his life but his actual his personal life is really interesting. I would recommend this book to people because it is easy to read. Lots of people think biography or autobiography is boring but the book is actually really interesting. Also it contains lots of photographs of Gandhi and his life so I guess people can easily understand his life. The book is well organized by several chapters and it talks about not only his historical achievements but also his personal life. By reading this book, people can get detail information about Gandhi and how India became independent from British people. Also people can easily understand his historical achievements such as non-violent policy or Salt March. The length is not that long, which is 123 pages so I think lots of people can read it easily.