Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist | Subhas Chandra Bose Biography | Penguin Books, Indian History

At the very beginning I would like to make one thing clear, that this book is not a hagiography of Subhas Bose but a well researched serious Biography. The language is lucid and even those who aren't that strong in English language won't find it difficult to read the book. This book authoritatively covers the transformation of Subhas Chandra Bose to Netaji. The author has done extensive research work, more than 80% of the work is based on primary sources. Intelligence reports, archival documents, memoirs of important persons are frequently used , a lot of new information on Netaji has been incorporated in the book. The author has used interesting cartoons of that time published in newspapers to depict the situation. The author has successfully brought out the natural human traits of Netaji. This book offers an in-depth analysis of Netaji's views on Nationalism, Spirituality, Socialism, Administration, Economics, History, Art , Culture,Education, Caste, Women empowerment, Municipal planning and governance. His close contacts with the revolutionary groups from his college days till the very last moment before his disappearance,his ideas on Military and International affairs , his relation with Axis Powers and how his vision was far ahead of his time. And how his ideas were different from Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Savarkar, Communists etc. His views on Partition, Cow Slaughter etc, his efforts to bridge gap between different sects of Hindu Community, his views and relations with Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League. The author has either intentionally left out or briefly touched upon a lot of well known events of Netaji's life and in palce brought out many unknown incidents from Netaji's life. His idea of propagating Hinduism in foreign countries to make India a world power. This book convincingly helps us to make out how Netaji's leftism or Socialism was very different from other Socialist. After reading this book you will realise that the only terms which can represent Netaji's feelings is undiluted, genuine Nationalism. Just how people go to a market and purchase different commodities of different brand according to his need and capacity, Netaji was also doing the same for India. He was not following any ideology blindly he was trying to study and understand was is suitable for India's overall growth, he picked out important features from Communism, Socialism, Fascism and also from India's Spritual and Cultural heritage. Chapters like Pheonix Rises, Quagmire of Isims , Covert Operative and INA and Independence needs a special mention. This book also gives us an idea how Netaji and INA played a crucial role in accelerating the exit of British Rule from India. Overall the book is worth purchasing. I highly recommend this book.

I have completed reading the book yesterday, and now I think I am in a position to write about this brilliant and diligently researched book. In the beginning I would like to congratulate the author Shri Chandrachur Ghose for doing absolute justice to the name of the book. This book actually deals with the untold events of the exemplary life of Netaji Shri Subhas Chandra Bose. The author has beautifully described all the events of Netaji's life from his childhood days at Cuttack, all the way upto the alleged plane crash event. Additionally, the author has also delved deep into the well known events of Netaji's life with special emphasis on what was happening behind the curtains during those. Apart from narrating the story of Netaji's life, the book also contains commentary about Netaji's perspectives about various political and social events which were happening during his lifetime. Moreover, the author has also painstakingly compiled the opinions of Netaji's contemporaries (e.g., Nehru, Gandhi, Patel, Jay Prakas Narayan etc.) about Netaji and his actions during various "historical crossroad moments" of Netaji's life and Indian Freedom struggle. Personally, I liked the chapter named "Quagmire of Isms" which is an extremely well compiled narration of how Netaji has been portrayed by various Politicians, Journalists and Historians both in India and abroad both during his active political life upto 1945 and after his disappearance, all the way up to recent times. This chapter discusses at length about how various people have tried to categorise Netaji's political ideology into various "isms" such as Communism, Fascism, Socialism etc. to fit their own political narratives. And finally, in the last chapter, the book beautifully sets up the premise for the book Conundrum (which is the next book I intend to read after I have finished writing this review). There's so much more I want to write but it will be like giving spoilers to the future readers, so I won't. In the end, I would like to congratulate the author and his associates (team Mission Netaji) for this exceptional and brilliantly written book. I hope that I get to read many such engrossing books from Mr. Ghose. I wish him all the success for his future books as well as his endeavors for bringing out the truth regarding the Netaji Death Mystery as well. And to anyone who is thinking of buying this book and thus reading this review, I would like to state that I highly recommend it. Please buy this book as it is worth every single penny spent.

Chandrachur da has done a fantastic job by writing a proper biography of the BEST son of Bharat Mata in modern age (Post Sivaji/Vivekananda era).

A section of people of Bharat never gave him true respect and honor which he deserved. I did not have any expectations from Leftists and Congres, but I had a expectations from BJP or Hindu party; they are also no difference. Very SAD!!

For every Netaji Bhakta. I wish this book had been available many moons ago.

All went well. Thanks a lot for sending me this best book on time. You guys are awesome. Best and fast service I have ever experienced. Keep doing the great work.

Having read Conundrum I was excited to order this book. Sadly it was a disappointment and a very difficult book to read. A lot of information is thrown in mostly quoted ad verbatim from old newspapers and references. There is lack of balance in the chapters and I lost track of what the author was trying to convey about Netaji. No doubt his life from 1941-1945 was instrumental in the making of Netaji and that is covered in a very perfunctory manner. This book is of value as reference material in a library filled with books about Netaji but not interesting enough for an ardent Netaji follower like me. I give it 2 stars but if the book was written in this way about someone else it would have scored 0.

Book is good, content is good. I think the English language could have been easier. Lots of difficult words are used instead of simple one. Extremely long sentences.