Dietmar Rothermund was attracted by Gandhis life and thought eversince he heard
about him. A historian trained in the tradition ofcritical analysis, Rothermund
initially distrusted the biographicalapproach in his writings on India. However,
he ultimately returnedto Gandhi, read all the volumes of his Collected Works and
wrote acomprehensive biography in German in 1989. He planned to publish
anEnglish version too. With the recent publication of books by JudithBrown and
B.R. Nanda, another comprehensive biography in English,however, appeared a
superfluous exercise. But after a study ofthese books, the author feels that his
interpretation of Gandhisthought and action differs from theirs in many
respects. He has,therefore, restricted himself to An