Nehru spent many years in prison and during this time, he wrote a great deal. Starting in January 1931, Nehru began writing about the history of the world in a series of letters addressed to his daughter Indira.
At the end of 30 months he had written around 200 letters which ran into 1,000 pages. They were compiled into a book called Glimpses of World History, which was subtitled, Being further letters to his daughter, written in prison. It was published as a continuation of his earlier work, Letters from a Father to a Daughter also written in prison, in 1928.
In the book, the first letter is addressed to Indira on her birthday. In it, Nehru apologizes for not being able to meet her and give her a ‘material’ gift but offers instead a gift from the ‘heart’ – a series of letters addressed to her.
The letters are written in the style of an intimate conversation that Nehru might have had with Indira at his house in Anand Bhavan. He discusses specifically the impact of colonialism on India and other countries, and broadly the story of the rise and fall of different civilizations of the world.
He states that he was heavily influenced by The Outline of History by H. G. Wells, in the preface of the book. What is remarkable about this book was that since it was written in prison, Nehru had no access to reference material and wrote almost entirely from his accumulated knowledge of history.
The book traces history beginning from 6,000 BC till the time of its writing.
Picture Credit : Google
