Tagore

Tagore: An Illustrated Biography is an intimate and lavishly illustrated portrait of Rabindranath Tagore, whose mark on India's history has never faded. Uma Das Gupta draws on rare photographs, artworks, letters and archival material to show the many lives he led as poet, philosopher, educator and artist, and she places him within the remarkable world of his family.

The book is more than a standard life story. It looks at the ideas that shaped how the Nobel laureate engaged with the world: nationalism, identity, history and spirituality. His critique of nationalism and his experiments in education stand out, and so does his habit of constant dialogue with his time, which he carried across Europe, the United States and Asia in his travels and lectures.

Insightful and wide-ranging, the book also works as a visual keepsake, for readers meeting Tagore for the first time and for those who keep returning to his life and work.