India’s first prime minister has been a topic of enduring interest to biographers. His rise to power and his attempts to give life to his vision of a new world order have been as much a focus of scholarship as the man away from the political arena. Dr Pandey’s book is an insightful probe into the private and public life of the man. It is a product of painstaking research, based almost entirely on private documents, and explores among other things Nehru’s intellectual growth, his policies as the leader of the nation, and his bond with the Mahatma.