Patel: A Life tells, for the first time, the full story of the life of Vallabhbhai, the ploughboy who helped liberate India and then, in 1947-9, weld her into one nation. Built from correspondence and diaries, including the Sardar's letters and the remarkable diary kept by his daughter Manibhen, PATEL is as authentic, intimate and complete an account as can be assembled. "That there is today an India to think and talk about,", President Rajendra Prasad wrote in May 1959, "is very largely due to Sardar Patel's statesmanship and firm administration." "Yet,", added Prasad, "we are apt to ignore him." If ignored, Sardar Patel is also missed. Troubled times engender a longing for the grip on India's affairs that Patel had. How he acquired that grip is part of PATEL's story. A quarter-century after the selection of India's first premier, C. Rajagopalachari recalled the event and wrote: "Undoubtedly it would have been better if Nehru had been asked to be Foreign Minister and Patel made the Prime Minister." Why did Nehru, with Gandhi's support, become Premier, and not Patel? Was Vallabhbhai anti-Muslim? What were his relationships with Maulana Azad, Nehru, Subhas Bose and the Mahatma? Why did he clash with the socialists? How did he unify India? Why did he accept partition? Why, much earlier, did he exchange a life of comfort and riches for the struggle at Gandhi's side? These are only some of the questions answered as PATEL's diligently researched and frank narrative unfolds. Inquiring into Vallabhbhai's times as well as his life, PATEL becomes a segment of history.