Regular readers are familiar with the seminal essay “The Gandhi Nobody Knows.”
Now John Boot reviews the new anti-hagiographic bios of Gandhi and Malcolm X:
Why are we startled to learn the real truth about Gandhi and Malcolm? Because journalists are remarkably adept at seeing only what they want to see when a liberal dreamboat comes floating along on a river of lies. We don’t even know exactly what Gandhi told reporters. Lelyveld writes that Gandhi demanded — and journalists granted! — the right to go back over his interview transcripts and edit them heavily. Fittingly enough, a state in India has banned the book. And don’t hold your breath waiting for Hollywood to remake Malcolm X or Gandhi along factual lines.
