Joseph Lelyveld makes some pretty provocative statements in “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle with India” and then seems to immediately backpedal on his analysis. Critical thinking, even criticism, is good. In fact, having read many Gandhi biographies myself, I recognize Gandhi’s contradictory nature. Who in life doesn’t change over a period of eighty years? But how far should criticism and analysis go?
For example, connecting Gandhi to Osama bin Laden in terms of Gandhi’s support of the Khilafat or whether we’d have a unified India without Gandhi.
Anyone else reading this book? What do you think?