Gandhi: A Life reveals the transformation of an ordinary, timid young man into a leader whose stand against a mighty empire brought millions together. From the poor and the illiterate to the intelligentsia and the rich, Gandhi's followers forged a sustained, non-violent movement for independence.

When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869, India was divided. British India, ruled by the Viceroy from Delhi, stood in stark contrast to the other India, a checkerboard of hundreds of princely states, royal instruments without political power.

Shortly before his nineteenth birthday, Gandhi - by then a husband and father of several years - set sail from Bombay to England to study law; shortly therafter, he traveled to South Africa to practice. An outsider, the young barrister tasted firsthand the bitter fruits of class prejudice, racial intolerance, and colonial oppression.

At the same time, his pursuit of spiritual fulfillment and a keen curiosity about the world's diverse religions nourished Gandhi's own deeply felt convictions, pointing him toward the path along which he would guide India to independence.