Rebels aginst the Raj: Western fighters for India’s freedom

Ramachandra Guha

Penguin Random House India has announced the forthcoming publication of Ramachandra Guha’s new book Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom. This book will be released under the prestigious Allen Lane imprint in January 2022 and is now available for pre-order online. Rebels Against the Raj tells the fascinating story of seven foreign fighters for India’s freedom from imperial rule. These rebels-four British, two American and one Irishchose to struggle for a country other than their own.

Ramachandra Guha says, ‘My first biographical subject, the activist-anthropologist Verrier Elwin, always regretted that he never courted imprisonment in the cause of Indian freedom. This book is about seven remarkable foreigners who made that definitive show of solidarity with their adopted homeland. Traitors to their race, religion and nation, these rebels against the Raj made critical contributions to Indian life before and after Independence. Tracking their journeys, through research in archives spread across the world, and in family papers never before seen by scholars, has been both arduous as well as immensely rewarding. I do not think I have ever enjoyed writing a book as much as this one.’

This book is a group biography of these seven renegades who were motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes where others found endless infuriation in his views; each understanding they would likely face prison sentences for their resistance, and likely live and die in India; each one leaving a profound impact on the region in which they worked, their legacies continuing through the institutions they founded and the generations and individuals they inspired.