This is a 1st edition copy of the book signed by the author. Over the past hundred years; India has held an enormous fascination for western intellectuals and artists. Father India explores the life-changing influence of the subcontinent on western ideas of modernity by narrating the curious; spellbinding stories of a succession of twentieth-century Europeans and Americans. These major culture figures--including Lord Curzon; Annie Besant; E. M. Forster; Carl Jung; William Butler Yeats; V. S. Naiipaul; Christopher Isherwood; and Martin Luther King Jr.; among others--acted out their most secret dreams in India. Troubled by a vague but persistent discontent; most of the characters portrayed in this book journeyed to India seeking a perspective on their own culture from outside it. The Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung; for example; unable to find within western intellectual tradition an antidote to fascism; scoured India for a different way to integrate an understanding of evil into the human psyche. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to discover a new basis for American politics; incongruously; in India. And V. S. Naipaul came to search for family roots but ended up inadvertently placing the Enlightenment values of individuality; rationality; and progress in a living crucible there. Gandhi's answer to the question "Why now?" as he observed one westerner after another come to his own ashram; is telling: The contemporary West had misplaced its soul; and pilgrims to India were on a mission to retrieve it. In the process; their unconscious assumptions about politics; religion; and identity in their own cultures were turned upside-down and laid open to question. "What do you think of western civilization?" Gandhi was once asked. He answered; "It would be a good idea." This book is about a good idea in India; Father India tells the story of those people--Curzon; Besant; Forster; Naipaul; Isherwood; Mirra Richard; and oddly; Gandhi; too; as well as a chorus of minor characters--who attempted to comprehend or even to protect western civilization through India; and of how their successes and failures returned to the modern West a changed understanding of itself.
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Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. One of the Very Best Regimental Histories WrittenBy Brett R. SchulteMother; May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen covers the relatively short but extremely brutal service of the Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers from initial recruitment in the fall of 1863; through Grant's Overland Campaign; and on to the trenches surrounding Petersburg; Virginia. Of the 900+ members who started with the regiment when it left Worcester; Massachusetts; in early spring 1864; only ten men made it through the last year of the war unscathed. The regiment was one of Fox's famous "300 fighting regiments"; having lost 19.1% killed or mortally wounded. Wilkinson disputes this figure; and his calculations raise the total to 20.5% of the total killed or mortally wounded. Regardless of the exact numbers; this regiment suffered appalling casualties in a short amount of time. This story is dramatic enough in the hands of a pedestrian writer. Wilkinson; however; kept me interested sentence by sentence; page by page through 371 total pages of text. Wilkinson describes the experiences of these men; both the good and the bad; in great detail. He doesn't fall prey to idolizing his subject matter. A reader learns that these were men with human failings; but that some were able to rise above these failings to fight resolutely for their cause. The roster located just after the text is amazing as well. Even privates receive quite a lot of attention. The roster runs from page 403 to page 623; and is a valuable reference for genealogists and other researchers. Wilkinson is not finished there; however. His appendices relate even more useful information on the regiment in easily read tables. The first appendix shows regimental strengths and casualties broken down by company for all of the major engagements of the 57th Massachusetts. Wargamers in particular will be interested in this material. If every author of a unit history included this information in as detailed a manner as Wilkinson did; there would be no need for unit strength research in the National Archives. The last two appendices cover statistical summaries of the men in the regiment; and a list of the ten who made it through the war without getting killed or wounded.In conclusion; I am very glad I picked this particular volume to start seriously reading unit histories. To everyone who recommended that I read the book; I thank you. I truly believe this book would appeal to a wide range of readers; even those who are not necessarily Civil War "buffs". In the same way Glory is an excellent; far-reaching film; Mother; May You Never See The Sights I Have Seen has the ability to reach out to a larger audience. I plan to recommend this book to those that ask me why I'm so interested in the Civil War. It hooks you and doesn't let go; much like a well-written novel. Although I've read only a couple of unit histories; I get the feeling that few I read in the future will be as good as this one. I cannot recommend it highly enough.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy G. ToddThis is the book that should have been made into a movie - not Killer Angles0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. very good book!By J. HallVery; very good book!
