Sugata Bose

Harvard Book Store is glad to welcome Harvard history professor SUGATA BOSE as he discusses his newest work of scholarship, His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle Against Empire.

The man whom Indian nationalists perceived as the “George Washington of India” and who was President of the Indian National Congress in 1938–1939 is a legendary figure. Called Netaji (“leader”) by his countrymen, Subhas Chandra Bose struggled all his life to liberate his people from British rule and, in pursuit of that goal, raised and led the Indian National Army against Allied Forces during World War II. His patriotism, as Gandhi asserted, was second to none, but his actions aroused controversy in India and condemnation in the West.

Now, in a definitive biography of the revered Indian nationalist, Sugata Bose explores a charismatic personality whose public and private life encapsulated the contradictions of world history in the first half of the twentieth century. He evokes Netaji’s formation in the intellectual milieu of Calcutta and Cambridge, probes his thoughts and relations during years of exile, and analyzes his ascent to the peak of nationalist politics. Amidst accounts of imprisonment and travels, we glimpse the profundity of his struggle: to unite Hindu and Muslim, men and women, and diverse linguistic groups within a single independent Indian nation.

Immediately following the event there will be an open reception hosted by the Harvard Asia Center, the Department of History, and the Mahindra Humanities Center. The reception will take place at Robinson Hall in Harvard Yard, 35 Quincy Street.