Born in Dehradun in 1958, and educated in Delhi and Calcutta, Ramachandra Guha pursued an academic career for ten years before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of the recently published and widely acclaimed India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. His other books include Environmentalism: A Global History and A Corner of a Foreign Field. He was named one of the hundred most influential intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. He lives in Bangalore