Nehru: A Contemporary’s Estimate by Walter Crocker

Elegant, perceptive, and startlingly prophetic, Nehru: A contemporary’s estimate is one of the finest accounts of Nehru ever written. Walter Crocker, the Australian high commissioner to India, admired Nehru the man — his grace, style, intelligence and energy – and was deeply critical of many of his political decisions — the invasion of Goa, India’s Kashmir policy, the Five Year Plans. This book, written shortly after Nehru’s death, is full of invaluable first hand observations about the man and his politics. Much of Crocker’s points, too — especially the implications of the Five Year Plans and of the introduction of democracy to India — are particularly relevant today. Out of print for many years, this classic biography has been reissued with a new foreword by Ram Guha.