C. Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was one of the builders of modern India. An early nationalist thinker from South India, Bharati's literary genius ignited a Renaissance in the literature of his native language, Tamil. He is known as the Mahakavi (supreme poet) of the Tamils. Bharati can lay the claim to being one of India's foremost egalitarian writers, arguing for the supremacy of women and the irrelevance of caste. The popularity of his songs during the freedom movement, long after his death, led to the government of India 'giving' the copyright of his works to the people of India as a gift.

The book is a collection of the entirety of Bharati's own, original writings in English, edited and annotated with an introduction. It includes a variety of short essays and poems, journalistic pieces and historical essays--offering uniquely Indian perspectives on local, national, and international events of the day--to intensely personal journal entries exploring his fear of death, and his fascination with personal mastery of the mind and self.