Louis Fischer's memorable biography of Mahatma Gandhi, the man who led the fight for Indian independence from British rule, is reissued in time for the 50th anniversary of both India's independence and gandhi's assassination by a Hindu fanatic only a few months after freedom from colonial rule was won.

Fischer was anAmerican journalist who knew Gandhi well and understood his unique strategy of satyagraha, or passive resistance, which earned him the admiration of millions throughout the world. On his death, Albert Einstein wrote: 'Gandhi had demostrated that a powerful human following can be assembled not only through the cunning game of the usual political manoeuvres and trickeries but through the cogent example of a morally superior conduct of life. In our time of utter moral decadence he was the only statesman to stand for a higher human relationship in the political sphere'.