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Article: Nehru: The Making of India.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 18, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NEHRU: THE MAKING OF INDIA.
PIONEERED by Plutarch 19 centuries ago, the didactic approach to biography is still going strong. Like Plutarch, Mr Akbar is frank about it: he seeks to point a moral. Answering the "obvious question" why yet another book on Jawaharlal Nehru should have been written, he discloses that his researches "had a personal significance, as I needed to know why the unity of India had been destroyed in the name of Islam."
His preoccupation is understandable. Unlike the authors of previous Nehru biographies, he represents a new generation (when Nehru died, Mr Akbar was only 13), and he is an Indian Muslim with an unusual background. His ...