Leonard A. Gordon

Leonard Abraham Gordon is a historian of South Asia, especially of Bengal, whose 1990 book Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalist Leaders Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose is considered the definitive biography of Subhas Chandra Bose.[1][2][3]

Education and career

Gordon graduated from Amherst College,[4] and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.[5] He was a professor of history at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and has emeritus status there now. He was also the Director of the Southern Asia Institute at Columbia University.

Gordon's revised Harvard dissertation,[5] Bengal: the Nationalist Movement won the (now discontinued) biennial Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association in 1974, a prize recognizing "the best book on the history of India originally published in the United States."[6] Gordon has been praised for his "narration of political events."[7]

Subhas Bose Biography

His book, Brothers Against the Raj is widely regarded as the definitive biography of Subhas Chandra Bose.[8][9][10] However, the book has also been criticized for not being sufficiently critical of Bose's dalliances with European fascism and Japanese imperialism.

Bibliography
  • Gordon, Leonard A.; Miller, Barbara Stoler (1971), A Syllabus of Indian Civilization, New York: Columbia University Press
  • Gordon, Leonard A. (January 1974), Bengal: the Nationalist Movement, 1876-1940, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-03753-2
  • Gordon, Leonard A. (1990), Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalist Leaders Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-07383-7
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See also

Notes
  1. Kopf 1992, pp. 271–272: Quote: "After almost thirty years of the most painstaking research in the libraries and archives of Europe and Asia, and after 150 interviews, Leonard A. Gordon has published this long-awaited biography of Subhas Chandra Bose, which includes the story of his brother, Sarat, also a freedom fighter. I know of no other comparable work that offers such meticulously detailed information on twentieth-century Bengali politics and politicians, both regional and national, Hindu and Muslim. ... The result is a masterful blending of archival evidence, acute intuitive apprehension, and gossip, brilliantly organized chronologically in fourteen chapters and amazingly confined to well within 1,000 pages. Much can be written in praise of this biography; it is surely Gordon's magnum opus."
  2. Zacharaiah 2012, p. 109: Quote: "Academic circles have long had in Leonard A. Gordon's Brothers against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose (1990) a careful and detailed account of the lives of Subhas Bose and his elder brother Sarat. Sugata Bose's book is not likely to replace Gordon's account."
  3. Wainwright 2013, pp. 360–361: Quote: "Bose therefore continues to be seen as a treacherous fascist collaborator to some and a heroic Indian freedom fighter to others. Scholars have had to negotiate the grey area between these two polar opposites in their treatment of Bose and the Indian National Army he helped create. Perhaps the most definitive work to date is Leonard A. Gordon’s Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose."
  4. "Index to the Amherst Alumni News and Amherst Magazine: Volumes 1-56, 1949-2004". Amherst College Library: Archival and Special Collections. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  5. Gupta 1975, p. 1033.
  6. "Discontinued Awards: Watumull Prize (1946–1982)". American Historical Association. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  7. Gupta 1975, p. 1033b: Quote: "Narration of political events is Gordon's forte, and the middle part of the book in which he summarizes events and condenses a number of published monographs, biographies, and autobiographies is written in brilliant prose."
  8. Kling 1904, p. 155: Quote: "Leonard Gordon has written the definitive biography of Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the most enigmatic personalities of modern India. Within it he has incorporated the biography of Subhas Bose's less famous older brother, Sarat, who studied at Lincoln's Inn, practiced before the Calcutta High Court and was a leading parliamentarian. The result is an unbalanced book, but it succeeds because the brothers' lives were so intertwined. The dual biography also reminds us that even so idiosyncratic a political figure as Bose was an integral part of a large Calcutta family whose support was essential to his career."
  9. Hayes 2011, p. 232: Quote: "Bibliographical Essay: ... The best biography (of Bose) is undoubtedly Leonard A. Gordon's Brothers Against the Raj ..."
  10. Framke 2012, p. 364: Quote: "Bose’s collaboration with the Axis powers during the Second World War has produced an extensive body of research literature (see a. O. Sareen 2007 and 1996; Kuhlmann 2003; Weidemann 2002; Zöllner (2000)13, but there are also studies available providing a full biographical overview such as the magisterial work of Leonard Gordon."

References


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