Jairam Ramesh's book on VK Krishna Menon humanises the villain of 1962

The book offers a balanced and wide-ranging account of V K Krishna Menon, Nehru's controversial and irascible defence minister, taking in his role as freedom fighter, leftist politician, and visionary

VK Krishna Menon, one of modern India’s most cerebral, sardonic and acerbic political leaders, was described tellingly after his death in 1974, in an obituary sentence in the London Times: “[A] remarkable, yet unlikeable man who worked untiringly all his life for his country, yet never received a nation’s gratitude, or even acceptance.” Even within the Congress Party, which he served selflessly despite his markedly left-wing personal convictions, he was regarded as an outsider and relentlessly undermined by mainstream leaders, lasting as long as he did only because of Jawaharlal Nehru’s unwavering support.

Much has already been written about Menon, mostly