Annie Besant's "Ideals of Theosophy" is one of the primary introductory works on the subject of this spiritual order, and written in the form of four lectures by this enigmatic lady- once a political activist, later a spiritual figure and adoptive mother of Krishnamurti himself.Its content is quite ahead of its time, at moments, proposing criminal reforms which were not only adopted but are even now widely accepted, along with some social reforms based on the principles of theosophy, some of which are accepted, and some which never particularly took hold in the Western World. Besant alludes heavily to Hinduism, which she applauds, and was a proponent, early and often, of Indian independence from the British.