Rebels Against The Raj “Western Fighters for India’s Freedom” - Ramachandra Guha

This is an interesting book about the fight for Indian independence and British colonial rule and I will give an outline of the book; however I would like to say a few words about how I came about being interested in the subject.  I find that my interest in history of all kinds often starts from some other form of literature that is more of a microcosm and then it leads to a desire to learn about the greater context.  One example would be Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is fiction; however it takes place during the Spanish Civil War.  I read this piece of literature because I am a big fan of Hemingway; however, it led me down a rabbit hole of sorts studying about the history of the Spanish Civil War which then led to the desire to go to Spain on several trips.  Another would be Robert Ruark’s book, Something of Value.  This book takes place in Kenya during the Mau Mau Uprising and during British Colonial Rule in Africa.  I have read many novels and stories about Africa that have led to many history readings as well as many trips to the continent.  My interest in India is in a similar vein because of the connection to British Colonialism and the similar themes and struggles of Western expansion followed by the struggle for freedom.  A deeper interest started with another genre of literature that I enjoy, adventure literature.  I recently read Jim Corbett’s book, Man-eaters of Kumaon, and that book pricked my curiosity about the history of India, so I found myself in a bookstore looking for interesting reads about the history of India and I found myself wanting to visit India. I may write more in depth about this subject later because the cause and effect from reading good literature runs much deeper than this and I owe a great deal to an early classical education in art, literature, and history as it has bought richness and depth to life and many adventures that would not have materialized if it were not for that education. 

The book, Rebels Against the Raj, covers a period of time from the late 1800’s through the early 1980’s, with most of it concentrating on the events that lead to India’s independence from the British that was finally achieved in 1947.  The history is told though the life stories of several Westerner’s both English and American, who adopted India as their home and worked with the main Indian leaders of the time, to include Mahatma Gandhi, to help free India from foreign rule and to help lead work in many fields to include journalism, social reform, education, the emancipation of women, and environmentalism.  The book covers the lives of seven Westerners, to include four British, two American, and one Irish.  The format of this history appeals to me because I enjoyed the details of these courageous individuals and their stories and it makes history personal and relatable, much like fiction set in historical context, and though their stories the book covers a lot of detail about the path to Independence for India and its relation to the West.