Fw: H-ASIA; Gandhi racist and bisexual? How book reviews can distort the book (query and comment)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 6:49 AM
Subject: H-ASIA; Gandhi racist and bisexual? How book reviews can distort
the book (query and comment)

> H-ASIA
> March 29, 2011
>
> H-ASIA; Gandhi racist and bisexual? How book reviews can distort the book
> (query and comment)
>
> *****************************************************************
> From: chandar sundaram <chandsund@gmail.com>
>
> Dear Frank and fellow H-Asianists,
>
> My first reaction to the TOI link provided by Prof Aklujar was "the
> Daily Mail reviews books?" When I lived in the UK, it was on par with
> the Sun in terms of news "quality".
>
> Gandhi and Kallenbach were indeed close. Perhaps they were "good
> mates" in the British or especially the Australian sense of the word.
> Having said that, I have not read the book, and so cannot comment
> fully. I would be grateful if a list member would provide me with the
> full citation of the Lelyveld book
>
> best,
>
> Chandar
>
> Chandar S. Sundaram, Ph.D.,
> War and Society Historian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ed. note: I apologize for not including the full bibliographic details
> in my earlier post. The bibliographic citation is:
>
> Joseph Lelyveld
> _Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India_
> (New York: Knopf, 2011)
> Hardcover: 448 pages
> ISBN-10: 0307269582
> ISBN-13: 978-0307269584
>
> Further to the original story, the book--which I am not sure has even
> reached India has set off the predictable posturings of outrage at this
> "insult" to the Father of the Nation. The Congress Party in Maharashtra
> state is demanding the book be banned and some politicians have offered
> threats to the author if he comes to India. Narendra Modi, the BJP
> chief minister of Gujarat is also rattling the rhetorical sabre. I take
> these details from the website of the Chennai newspaper _the Hindu_
> (http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/30/stories/2011033060130100.htm)
>
> The offending "review" by one Daniel Bates in the Daily Mail is at
> (<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370554/
> Gandhi-left-wife-live-male-lover-new-book-claims.html>).
>
> This bruhaha may well eclipse earlier controversies such as James Laine's
> book on Shivaji as the internet infects and reinfects with misinformation.
> FFC
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