Book Review -His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire

Sugata Bose, His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire, Penguin/Allen Lane, 2011, 388 pages, Rs 699.

Subhas Chandra Bose is one of Indian history’s most enigmatic and emotive personalities. Yet, despite being so widely revered and loved in India, we don’t have a lot of literature on him. Bose himself was a prolific writer and his writings were published even when he was alive. There does however exist a serious dearth of good historical writing on Bose. Which is why it is exciting that within the span of a single year, two new books have been published on Subhas Bose. The first is under review. The second is Bose in Nazi Germany by Romain Hayes (Random House, 2011).