The Hindu Lit for Life 2019 | John Keay on the biography of Alexander Gardner

When a book on a man as colourful and controversial as Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner is the subject of a session, a bit of drama is to be expected. But more on that later.

In a conversation with academic Shiv Visvanathan in a session titled ‘The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner’, renowned historian John Keay admitted that “writing your first biography on a man who died 150 years ago may seem a bit perverse.”