Aravind Ganachari examines how Agarkar wanted reason and an enlightened conscience to be the sole determinant in regulating human conduct and social behaviour. His rational approach constantly re-examined all social ideas and institutions – whether they served the purpose of social utility and comfort or not. He was among the few contemporaries in whose thought and practice there was no dichotomy. Education, contends the author, not just formal but also informal Lokshikshan, holds the key to Agarkar’s idea of human advancement in life. "It is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals who have the courage of conviction to criticize politicians in power and demolish myths which influence the general public. In such an atmosphere it becomes necessary to revive the memory of Agarkar, a solitary rationalist, who fearlessly expressed his dissenting opinions and helped his contemporaries to learn by discussion and argument." Y.D. Phadke in his Foreword “What ought to be spoken will be spoken, and what needs to be done will be done.” Gopal Ganesh Agarkar's (1856-1895) ideas mark the apex of the secular rationalist trend during the renaissance of nineteenth century Maharashtra. Arvind Ganachari's book clearly highlights the achievements of a remarkable personality who deeply influenced the national intellectual current. In Gopal Ganesh Agarkar The Secular Rationalist Reformer, Aravind Ganachari makes an in-depth study of G.G. Agarkar's rationalist ideas in social, political, economic and the other related fields that are accurately reflected in his numerous writings, first as the editor of Kesari (1881-1887) and later as the founder-editor of Sudharak (1887-1895). Along with Vishnushashtri Chiplunkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Vaman Shivram Apte, Agarkar also co-founded the New English School and the Fergusson College in Pune.

Dr. Aravind Gururao Ganachari (b.1951) is a Reader in History at the Department of History, University of Mumbai. He has been teaching history for the past thirty-three years, first at the Government of Maharashtra’s I.Y. College, Mumbai and now at the University Department of History. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai in 2000 and it formed the basis for his present book. He has published Nationalism and Social Reform in a Colonial Situation (Kalpaz, 2005). He has authored a number of research articles that are published in national and international journals on a variety of themes from social, cultural, political and intellectual history of modern Maharashtra.