Author Description

In August 1947, India achieved independence from British colonial rule. Now the world's largest democracy, and second largest country after China, India is growing daily in importance for global politics and economics. And yet for almost all 50 years of its independence, it has been ruled by one family -- a dynasty of Nehrus and Gandhis. Based on diaries, letters, contemporary journalistic accounts, new research and exclusive interviews with politicians, business leaders, family members and colleagues of the two families, this book traces the rise of the family from 1857 through India's independence, and on through the ill-fated reigns of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. Illustrated.