About the Book:
Mahatma Gandhi was an anticolonial activist, lawyer, and politician. Less famously, but no less importantly, he was also a back-to-the-land farmer, a founder of communes, and a seeker of utopia. Living with Gandhi: Experiments in Utopia tells the story of everyday life at Gandhi’s communities in India and South Africa. It explores who lived at each community alongside Gandhi, what experiments they undertook in the shared pursuit of universal wellbeing, and what connections were forged between daily life and larger socio-political issues such as racial inequality, caste reform, and anticolonial activism.
In today’s world the need to simplify life and focus on the greater good is no less urgent than it was in Gandhi’s time. Reading about Gandhi’s communities allows us to think with Gandhi about a range of topics, including how to spend our finite time together on this earth; how the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion operate in our daily lives; what differentiates a utopic community from a dystopic one; and whether or to what extent self-sacrifice is necessary for universal wellbeing.
Published by the Association for Asian Studies and Columbia University Press, 2026.
Now available for pre-order! Shipping in September, 2026.
Book Resources:
Discussion Guide for the Book
Introduction to the Book
Check back soon! The book Living with Gandhi: Experiments in Utopia by Karline McLain will be released in September 2026. The Introduction to the book will be shared here at the time of the book's official release.
Book Club Kit
Check back soon! The book Living with Gandhi: Experiments in Utopia by Karline McLain will be released in September 2026. The Book Club Kit will be shared here at the time of the book's official release.
About the Author
Karline McLain, PhD, is a Professor of Religious Studies at Bucknell University. Living with Gandhi: Experiments in Utopia (Association for Asian Studies and Columbia University Press, 2026) is her most recent book. She is the editor and the PI (primary investigator/lead researcher) of the companion online site for the book, the Living with Gandhi Archive.
Karline McLain is also the author of The Afterlife of Sai Baba: Competing Visions of a Global Saint (University of Washington Press) and India’s Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes (Indiana University Press). Her teaching and scholarship explore the religion, history, and culture of South Asia. Her recent public talks focus on Gandhi’s communities and his philosophy of universal wellbeing in the context of everyday life.
Karline McLain received her Ph.D. in Asian Cultures & Languages from the University of Texas at Austin, and her B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Iowa.
Other books by Karline McLain:
India's Immortal Comic Books:
Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes
Published by Indiana University Press
Combining entertainment and education, India's most beloved comic book series, Amar Chitra Katha, or "Immortal Picture Stories," is also an important cultural institution that has helped define, for several generations of readers, what it means to be Hindu and Indian. Karline McLain worked in the ACK production offices and had many conversations with Anant Pai, founder and publisher, and with artists, writers, and readers about why the comics are so popular and what messages they convey. In this intriguing study, she explores the making of the comic books and the kinds of editorial and ideological choices that go into their production.
The Afterlife of Sai Baba:
Competing Visions of a Global Saint
Published by University of Washington Press
Over a century after his death, the image of Sai Baba, the serene old man with the white beard from Shirdi, India, is instantly recognizable to most South Asians (and many Westerners) as a guru for all faiths―Hindus, Muslims, and others. During his lifetime Sai Baba accepted all followers who came to him, regardless of religious or caste background, and preached a path of spiritual enlightenment and mutual tolerance. Tracing his rise from small village guru to global phenomenon, Karline McLain uses a wide range of sources to investigate the different ways that Sai Baba has been understood and the reasons behind his skyrocketing popularity among Hindus in particular.