Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India

by Stanley Wolpert

Tilak and Gokhale, Gandhi's immediate predecessors in the Indian independence movement, could not be more contrasting figures. Tilak is often portrayed as an extremist; Gokhale a moderate. Yet their individual contributions, while so different from each other, were reliant upon a constant
interaction--each responding to the other's pronouncements and policies. In the final analysis, it was Gandhi's ability to synthesize the nationalist tendencies of Tilak and the moral principles of Gokhale that gave the independence movement its ultimate form and success. Stanley Wolpert, a leading
scholar of Indian history, makes plain for the first time the importance of the relationship of these two great men to the shaping of India's destiny.

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 1990

About the author

Stanley A. Wolpert is an American academic, Indologist, and author considered one of the world's foremost authorities on the political and intellectual history of modern India and Pakistan and has written fiction and nonfiction books on the topics. He taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1959-2002.

Reviews

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author's bias against Tilak clouds an otherwise informative book.

[Revanth Ukkalam · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had had to give a review of this book somewhere in the middle, I would have praised it still but added that it doesn't fare well as comparative biography. Through the 90s, Tilak appears to be an agent, and Gokhale only a commentator and reactor. But what can the author do? So easily forgettable is the difference in their age, as is the precociousness of the brilliant, gentle, romantic, and hopelessly soft Gokhale. Gokhale's era indeed arrives with the turn of the century and makes instantly this book, one to read. Although written, like all other works by the author, for international audiences, it is quite the masterpiece of political history. In the vicious fight between Gokhale and Tilak over control of the Deccan Educational Society, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Indian National Social Conference, seats of the Legislatures, and most relevantly, the Congress Party, there is a fight about principles: Violence vs Peace, Disobedience vs Constitutionalism, Internationalism vs Nativism, Secularism vs Religion, Liberalism vs Conservatism, Empire vs Swaraj, and Rebellion vs Reconciliation. While reading the book, one cannot help but gasp at the relevance the debates hold to Indian politics as they would unfold. Even more critically, the debates hold great importance with the legacy that would be inherited by Gandhi who appears late in the book, for he was a man who synthesised the radical protest techniques of Tilak and the cool humanism of Gokhale. Excellent book!

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book reads like 'Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'. The latter ofcourse referring to Tilak which i did not mind since books praising him r in plenty. Now looking forward to picking up a book slightly sympathetic to him. Also, a good view of Congress politics in the pre-Gandhi era.