Based on papers written for seminar on ‘decolonization’ and ‘contem­por­ary history’ of the Punjab, organized by the Institute of Punjab Studies which aims at promoting inter-disciplinary study of the political, economic, social and cultural life of the peoples of the north-west of India, this book should be of great interest to administrators, politicians and journalists as well as to social scientists and general readers. It gives useful insights into administration, politics, violence, demographic change, and the condition of the relatively unprivileged ‘fragments’ of the society in the region – women, dalits, labourers and village communities. About the Author J.S. Grewal, Formerly Professor and Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Director and later Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, has published extensively on the historiography of medieval India and the Sikh and Punjab history. Some of his books by Manohar are Sikh Ideology, Polity and Social Order (27); Recent Debates in Sikh Studies: An Assessment (211); Historical Writings on the Sikhs: Western Enterprise and Indian Response (212); and Guru Nanak: A New Path and a New Panth (forthcoming). His other recent publications include Master Tara Singh in Indian History (OUP, 217) and Guru Gobind Singh: Master of the White?Hawk?(OUP,?219). Indu Banga, Professor Emerita in History, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and formerly Professor of History, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has authored/edited nearly 2 books on agrarian, urban, institutional, social, and cultural history of medieval and modern India and the Punjab. \n