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This has been a difficult book to read, and was completed over an extended period of time. Perhaps a second reading would have resulted in a better appreciation of its merits. But in spite of stumbling blocs encountered by this reviewer, it did leave him with a deeper understanding of Gandhi.
Erikson makes use of Gandhi's activities during the textile mill workers strike of 1918 in Ahmedabad as a base from which to trace his previous development and forecast what was to come. The focus is on satyagraha, the concept of passive resistance, and its evolution through Gandhi and circumstance. The Ahmedabad incident is chosen because of the intrinsic data on Gandhi it affords and also because of the opportunity it offers to discuss to many of the still-living participants in that event. Opposing one another in the struggle were a brother who represented the interests of the mill owners and a sister who represented the workers. Each respected the other, and Gandhi both. The situation was therefore tailor-made for the objective of not hurting the opponent and respecting the “truth” in him. Erikson got to know both protagonists as well as the locale where the struggle took place, and could retrospectively attempt to deal with motivations on a broader level.
The book on the whole is a melange of history, biography, Freudian psychology,