M.K. Gandhi: An Autobiography is the story of Gandhiji’s, covering his life from early childhood through to 1920. It gives an authentic account of the personal life of a man who led millions into independence. Gandhiji wrote in his autobiography that the three most important modern influences in his life were Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You, John Ruskin's Unto This Last and the poet Shrimad Rajchandra. In the last chapter, he notes that his life from this point onward became so public that there was hardly anything about it that people did not know.

Being a proponent of Ahimsa or nonviolence, Gandhi diligently stuck to a set of practices from early on in life. The book gives us a better understanding of the habits that Gandhi rigorously inculcated into his daily routine. His childhood, his journey to England, his life in South Africa and the non-cooperation movement in India are all discussed at length in this mind-opening book.