Nehru: A Tryst with Destiny

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India and the founder of a political dynasty realized by his daughter Indira Gandhi and her sons, was a statesman of immense depth, courage, and charisma. His semi-autobiographical account of his country’s history, The Discovery of India, is astonishingly learned, drawing from Socrates, Nietzsche, Yeats, and the Bhagavad Gita with equal ease. Wolpert, who teaches Indian history at UCLA, met Nehru in the 1950s. As he assesses the legacy of a life devoted to Indian independence and socialism, his biography tries to show both the stature and the foibles of his subject. He also details Nehru’s personal life, including the early death of his wife and his long affair with Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of the last British viceroy of India.