THE LIFE AND TIMES

New political biographies

BHAGAT SINGH: A Life in Revolution

By Satvinder Juss PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE INDIA,

Pg 544, `999

The short life of this nationalist martyr has cast a long shadow in the subcontinent. This substantial biography offers both historical context on the world from which Bhagat Singh emerged and analysis of the complexity of his legacy and the many claims to it across the political and geographic spectrum.

NETAJI: Subhas Chandra Bose’s Life, Politics & Struggle by Krishna Bose, edited and translated by Sumantra Bose PAN MACMILLAN

Pgs 360, `699

A valuable collection of articles on India’s lost nationalist icon by an important scholar who was also a family member and translated by her son. This collection offers fascinating vignettes of Bose’s dramatic life and his relationships with several individuals from Nehru and Hitler to his wife Emilie Schenkl. A serious work, blessedly free of the conspiracy theories that have clouded this important figure.

KALAM: THE UNTOLD STORY by R.K. Prasad BLOOMSBURY,

Pg 180, `499

An intimate and occasionally affecting biography from a man who was personal secretary to the late president and rocket man for the last 20 years of his unusual life. Top quote: “Kalam was not for the Congress or the BJP. But he did like Vajpayee very much.…”