Insightful ... Guha’s chosen subjects in Rebels Against the Raj were mainly inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent satyagraha protests ... The result is a curate’s egg, with some biographical portraits proving more engaging than others. Those of the featured rebels who witnessed the drama of the independence struggle serve up more captivating tales than those who ran ashrams in postindependence India ... One of the more engaging stories is that of the social reformer Annie Besant ... She was older than Gandhi, which makes her interactions with the up-and-coming Mahatma particularly fascinating ... Guha’s previous works have distinguished him as an exceptional chronicler of India’s modern history. His latest volume provides fresh perspectives on the independence struggle that will appeal to those seeking more obscure eyewitness accounts. And since the book’s main figures were born outside of India, Rebels Against the Raj may strike a chord with contemporary outsiders who themselves have been seduced by India’s history and culture.

[An] admirable book ... [Guha] is a man of the liberal left, as can be seen in his attempt to liken his Western champions of Indian freedom to the foreigners who volunteered to fight on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Some readers will be unconvinced by the analogy ... Mr. Guha makes plain his admiration for these seven 'white-skinned heroes and heroines of India’s past,' as he describes them.

In an age of bigotry and narrow nationalisms, Ramachandra Guha’s new book is a welcome reminder that people’s opinions, passions and life’s work do not have to be dictated by their ethnic identities or their countries of birth ... In Rebels Against the Raj, the biographer of Mahatma Gandhi and historian of India has chosen to tell the colourful life stories of seven white foreigners ... The author is explicit about the purpose of what he calls his 'morality tale' ... It is about the state of contemporary India that Guha is most aggrieved. He has been a vocal critic of Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and laments the rise of nativism and xenophobia in recent decades.

Gandhi forms the connecting link between these diverse personal narratives ... One might question whether these individuals were truly 'renegades', in the sense of traitors betraying cause and country, rather than individuals who cherished the ideals of liberty and, more speculatively, equality in their home nation and so regarded the want of such values and aspirations in India as intolerable. Guha might also be faulted for insufficiently addressing the power of whiteness ... under the British, but even more problematically, in post-independence India. Guha, however, sees something special in the willingness of these disparate individuals to live their adult lives in and for India ... This for him, controversially, was a step beyond the self-sacrificing patriotism of Indians.

There were a small number of foreigners who worked for India’s freedom. This book is their story, if a specialised one ... Guha has done well to remind us of these forgotten stories, all the more as India, like much of the world, is becoming more xenophobic and intolerant, believing all the virtues lie within national frontier.

Eminently readable and dazzling ... Drawing on extensive private and public archives, Guha, in his inimitable style and with exemplary rigour, retrieves the lives of seven foreigners who deeply loved India ... Astonishing detail ... Rebels Against the Raj points out that the uniqueness of these foreigners lay in the fact that they made India their home whilst transcending their privileged western worlds. It was an eclectic mix of individuals, reflecting diverse shades of opinion. But the connecting thread was that they resisted the Raj and deftly combined writing with activism ... While the story of dissident Britons living in Britain is well known, we rarely hear of these foreign voices in India ... The book is rich in political conversations, personal friendships and antipathies, making it a compelling read. Rebels Against the Raj, like much of Guha’s earlier works on historical biography, signals an innovative direction in historiography, where biography crosses many boundaries and elegantly meets social and political history over a century. Painstakingly researched, this is history writing at its best ... A masterful study.

The book offers a novel perspective of India’s fight for independence ... It will be helpful for context and geography if readers of Guha’s book have some background knowledge of India and its struggle for independence, though isn’t necessary ... For those looking for a new perspective on India’s fight for independence and beyond, and what drives people to devote their life and freedom to a cause not their own.

Vibrant ... Guha gives a lively recap of their exploits...but at heart their stories are about Anglo-Americans falling in love with Hindu culture and spirituality ... Guha’s elegantly written group portrait ably conveys the passion and idealism of the Gandhian independence movement and its hold over the Western imagination.

Compelling minibiographies ... As Guha demonstrates, all of these individuals dedicated their lives to the causes for which Gandhi was so passionate. An inspiring education tool for those researching India and nonviolent independence movements.