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The Man Before The Mahatma
At the age of eighteen, a shy and timid Mohandas Gandhi leaves his home in Gujarat for a life on his own. At forty-five, a confident and fearless Gandhi, ready to boldly lead his country to freedom, returns to India.
What transforms him?
The law.
The Man before the Mahatma is the first biography of Gandhi’s life in the law. It follows Gandhi on his journey of self-discovery during his law studies in Britain, his law practice in India and his enormous success representing wealthy Indian merchants in South Africa, where relentless attacks on Indian rights by the white colonial authorities cause him to give up his lucrative representation of private clients for public work—the representation of the besieged Indian community in South Africa.
As he takes on the most powerful governmental, economic and political forces of his day, he learns two things: that unifying his professional work with his political and moral principles not only provides him with satisfaction, it also creates in him a strong, powerful voice. Using the courtrooms of South Africa as his laboratory for resistance, Gandhi learns something else so important that it will eventually have a lasting and worldwide impact: a determined people can bring repressive governments to heel by the principled use of civil disobedience.
Using materials hidden away in archival vaults and brought to light for the first time, The Man before the Mahatma puts the reader inside dramatic experiences that changed Gandhi’s life forever and have never been written about—until now.
About Author:
Charles DiSalvo is the Woodrow A. Potesta Professor of Law at West Virginia University, where he teaches one of the few law school courses in the United States on civil disobedience. He has represented civil disobedients in trial and appellate courts, written widely on civil disobedience and lectured on the subject in the United States and abroad.
Professor DiSalvo was educated at St. John Fisher College, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was a member of the Southern California Law Review. Upon his graduation from law school, he was awarded a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship to practise poverty law for the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund.
He served as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School before joining the West Virginia faculty. In addition to teaching a course on civil disobedience and the law, he teaches courses on civil procedure and trial advocacy. He is the co-founder of the West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest.
He is married to Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he has three children, Clare, Maura and Philip.
What transforms him?
The law.
The Man before the Mahatma is the first biography of Gandhi’s life in the law. It follows Gandhi on his journey of self-discovery during his law studies in Britain, his law practice in India and his enormous success representing wealthy Indian merchants in South Africa, where relentless attacks on Indian rights by the white colonial authorities cause him to give up his lucrative representation of private clients for public work—the representation of the besieged Indian community in South Africa.
As he takes on the most powerful governmental, economic and political forces of his day, he learns two things: that unifying his professional work with his political and moral principles not only provides him with satisfaction, it also creates in him a strong, powerful voice. Using the courtrooms of South Africa as his laboratory for resistance, Gandhi learns something else so important that it will eventually have a lasting and worldwide impact: a determined people can bring repressive governments to heel by the principled use of civil disobedience.
Using materials hidden away in archival vaults and brought to light for the first time, The Man before the Mahatma puts the reader inside dramatic experiences that changed Gandhi’s life forever and have never been written about—until now.
About Author:
Charles DiSalvo is the Woodrow A. Potesta Professor of Law at West Virginia University, where he teaches one of the few law school courses in the United States on civil disobedience. He has represented civil disobedients in trial and appellate courts, written widely on civil disobedience and lectured on the subject in the United States and abroad.
Professor DiSalvo was educated at St. John Fisher College, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was a member of the Southern California Law Review. Upon his graduation from law school, he was awarded a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship to practise poverty law for the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund.
He served as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School before joining the West Virginia faculty. In addition to teaching a course on civil disobedience and the law, he teaches courses on civil procedure and trial advocacy. He is the co-founder of the West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest.
He is married to Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he has three children, Clare, Maura and Philip.
- GenresBiography
456 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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54 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 9, 2013
There is something about skimming through the pages of history, when you discover that History was once like this Chinese term “Dangxia” which means “now and here”. This is to say that history had a history and a present- like metadata, which means data about data. I have grown up reading about Gandhi’s ideas backwards, so we go back from reading about Nations’ freedom in 1947 to how his ideas helped achieving it. Charles DiSalvo takes this extremely challenging but brilliantly fascinating task of reading about Gandhi and his ideas in a forward manner. So there was a time when history was being built, the Man was becoming the Mahatma. So if Independence and the freedom struggle are post-Mahatma, his twenty years in South Africa are pre-Mahatma.
Gandhi’s role in the making of nation was neither an obvious phenomenon nor was it an oblivious undertaking. We often arrive at his achievements like heroic feats, but we frequently forget to archive the greatness of his ideas. What made him and his ideas so great is definitely worth reading about....
For the full review, visit IndiaBookStore.
Gandhi’s role in the making of nation was neither an obvious phenomenon nor was it an oblivious undertaking. We often arrive at his achievements like heroic feats, but we frequently forget to archive the greatness of his ideas. What made him and his ideas so great is definitely worth reading about....
For the full review, visit IndiaBookStore.
February 18, 2013
Is history the product of strong-minded individuals who impose their will on the forces of society? Or is it the product of the forces of society that impose themselves on individuals? Or, as many think, are there any clear lines?
Mahatma Gandhi does not need any introduction. But a shy and timid Mohandas Gandhi, who at the age of eighteen had left his home in Gujarat for a life on his own: perhaps does. It is most likely that nobody noticed him when he had arrived on the S.S. Clyde on September 29, 1988 in England to study law. Yet, when he returns to India at forty-five, he is a confident and fearless Gandhi, ready to boldly lead his country to freedom. The Man would soon turn into the Mahatma.
Read the complete review at http://www.thebookoutline.com/2013/02...
Mahatma Gandhi does not need any introduction. But a shy and timid Mohandas Gandhi, who at the age of eighteen had left his home in Gujarat for a life on his own: perhaps does. It is most likely that nobody noticed him when he had arrived on the S.S. Clyde on September 29, 1988 in England to study law. Yet, when he returns to India at forty-five, he is a confident and fearless Gandhi, ready to boldly lead his country to freedom. The Man would soon turn into the Mahatma.
Read the complete review at http://www.thebookoutline.com/2013/02...
March 11, 2014
It'a always interesting to read books on the Mahatma - am not sure if would have bought this title. But I had heard of it (am an avid reader of reviews) and picked it up a bound copy for 100Rs at the Darya Ganj Sunday market. Was well worth the money - it focuses the various cases Gandhi fought as a lawyer during his South African days. He started with faith in the English legal system - after all he was trained in London. But, the Boer-British conflict and the turbulent politics of immigration, bonded labor and race gradually led him away from the law as an instrument for justice for his people. It describes his initial forays into satyagraha as an instrument and the final renunciation of the law itself.
Well written and readable, would recommend it
Well written and readable, would recommend it
May 26, 2015
In THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH Bapu has not written much about his professional life as a lawyer . The reason may be that Bapu wrote THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH during the 1920 s ,by this time Bapu had developed a very deep disdain for lawyers/law.If Bapu had compromised with his principles then he would have been successful as a lawyer .In "The Man Before The Mahatma" the author gives many instances during which Bapu had to choose between principles(like honesty ,truth) and professional success.The book definitely gives an estimate of the early professional life of the man who was destined to free INDIA from foreign rule.
June 22, 2013
I am half way through this legal biography. As a practising Litigator, I am able to appreciate MKG life in Court. A very good book.
Finally completed reading this book, this book is not for the faint hearted non litigator layperson.
Finally completed reading this book, this book is not for the faint hearted non litigator layperson.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews