Ratings8
Average rating3.5
Gandhi's non-violent struggles against racism, violence, and colonialism in South Africa and India had brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. He feared the enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding of his quest for truth rooted in devotion to God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices, celibacy, and a life without violence. This is not a straightforward narrative biography, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi offers his life story as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps.
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Tedious, self-contradictory and generally disappointing autobiography. It might be that the intended audience of this book are young people in India, but even so, I had higher expectations. Recommended read for anyone who regards him as a saint and not merely a mortal who learns from his mistakes, experiments with several practices and fights for an idea (or a few actually).
Gandhi (the 1982 film), though it's from a different perspective and captures only a certain stage of his life, does a much better job at depicting his character and his fight for freedom than does Gandhi in his own words.
Impressive personality, poor writer.