Young India

Lala Lajpat Rai (Lajpat Rai)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 455K words
Chapters: 46

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Young India by Lala Lajpat RaiAuthor: Lajpat Rai, Lala, 1865-1928,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Jun 29, 2015

Editor's review

Young India is a collection of political essays and speeches by Lala Lajpat Rai, reflecting the ideas and positions of the early twentieth-century Indian national movement. Writing as a public intellectual, the author is direct and strongly argumentative, addressing colonial rule, social reform, and the responsibilities of youth. It is an important primary source for understanding the early discourse of India's independence movement. The Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook preserves the original text, suitable for historical reading and verifying quotations. Note its historical context and polemical targets; it should not be taken as an objective general history. South Asian studies scholars and modern history enthusiasts can read it alongside works by Gandhi and Nehru; general readers should start with the introductory chapters before moving to specific pieces, lest dense political terminology deter them.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars of modern South Asian history and national movements
Thesis writers who need public-domain English historical sources
Readers interested in colonial political writing and the speech genre

Not a good fit for

Casual readers looking for light stories or fiction
Beginner students who need modern scholarly annotation
Readers with no interest in political debate or historical background

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and preface first to map out when each piece was written and its polemical context.
Read alongside a general history of modern India to avoid misinterpreting the arguments out of context.
When excerpting key arguments, note the original page numbers for later citation and verification.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this the same book as Gandhi's Young India?

No. Gandhi once ran a newspaper called Young India, while this book is by Lala Lajpat Rai. The authors and texts are different; be careful to distinguish them.

Can I understand it without a background in Indian history?

You can, but understanding will be limited. Much of the argument addresses specific political events and figures of the time; familiarize yourself with the basic outline of the early twentieth-century Indian national movement before reading the original.

Is the ebook suitable for academic citation?

It can be cited as a public-domain primary text, but version information and page numbers must be verified. The Project Gutenberg edition generally lacks modern editorial notes; in academic writing, compare it with authoritative print or critical editions.

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About the author

Lala Lajpat Rai (Lajpat Rai) Author · Indian · 1865–1928

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865–1928) was an Indian independence leader and writer, born in Dhudike, Punjab, and died in Lahore. Known as the "Lion of Punjab" and one of the radical trio "Lal Bal Pal," he presided over a special session of the Indian National Congress in 1920 and died in 1928 after being beaten by police while protesting the Simon Commission. Three of his works are held here, including Young India, The Political Future of India, and An Open Letter to the Right Honorable David Lloyd George. His writings are chiefly political commentary and current-affairs analysis on India's future self-rule, the abuses of colonial rule, and the national movement, marked by a clear stance, blunt argument, and open letters, making them important texts for studying the thought of the Indian independence movement.