Before he returned to his native India from South Africa, where he had been working as a lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi-now known as MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI (1869-1948), the spiritual leader of the movement for Indian independence and a passionate proponent of civil disobedience as a force for social change-was ejected from the first class cabin of a train, even though he held a valid first class ticket, and was forced to travel in the squalid third class cars.

In 1917, after he returned home, Gandhi produced this extraordinary look at the plight of the poor in India, as prismed through the experience of a rail journey from Mumbai to Madras. From the filthy, overcrowded conditions in third class to his philosophical musings on the cures for what ailed the downtrodden of that nation, this brief, vital work offers a remarkable insight into the thinking of one of the 20th century's greatest heroes, and essential background for the acts that made him so powerful and so beloved.