"Mark Lindley, whose authoritative study of the first Gandhian economist, J.C. Kumarappa, has earned accolades in India and abroad, has now written the definitive biography of Gora (1902-1975), a social reformer whose thought and practice Mahatma Gandhi described as superior to his own. Gora, though himself born high-caste, worked ceaselessly for the upliftment of the oppressed and for economic justice. He was an atheist, but a positive one who believed that men and women do not really need the support of religion to gain self-confidence and achieve social equality. Vinoba Bhave paid him the ultimate compliment of declaring publicly that he was a philosopher of the category of Adi Shankara. Mark Lindley has put into rich historical context the saga of a remarkable man whose work has gone unsung by Indian historians."