'I became a liberal because I believed in the virtues of openness, mutual respect, and aconcern for others. Liberalism offered me an ethically responsible order of human progresswithout necessarily involving the state.'Gurcharan Das has been a lifelong and passionate champion of both economicand political freedom. 'For over two centuries, ' he writes, 'liberal democraciesand free markets spread around the world to become the only sensible wayto organize public life.' After years of the stifling 'license raj', he watched andcelebrated India's long-delayed move towards a liberal order in the 1990s, asmarket reform and a maturing democratic process began to yield remarkableresults, bringing prosperity and dignity to the many millions who had beendenied both for decades. He recorded this progress in his classic study, IndiaUnbound. But after three decades, that light seems to be fading. As in the rest ofthe world, liberalism is in retreat in India as well. Society is hopelessly polarizedand populists are on the march. The debate appears to be about economicfreedom versus political freedom-as if it is a given that the two cannot coexist.The liberal today is on a lonely road.In order to elucidate the dilemma of the Indian liberal, Gurcharan Das recountshis own professional and intellectual journey: how and why he became a liberal.While telling his story, he also narrates the story of a nation struggling-still-to become a successful liberal democracy-the late promise and its seemingbetrayal, but also the possibility of course correction.Written with conviction, insight and scholarship-and with immense clarity-this is an urgent and illuminating book. It is a book that every Indian invested inthe future of the country should read.