Chaudhury, Nirad (1897-1999), an Indian author, became noted for his views on India's transition from British colony to independent republic. He lamented the passing of British values and their civilizing influence on India. He believed that social decay set in after the United Kingdom gave up its empire. Chaudhury angered many educated Indians with such opinions, first expressed in Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951). A second volume of autobiography was published in 1987 as Thy Hand, Great Anarch.