A History of the Sikhs. Volume 1:1469-1839; Volume 2: 1839-1964 by Singh, Khushwant - 1984

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. Book. Very Good. Soft cover. 1984 reissue in Princeton Paperback edition (1963). xiii, 419, 4 plates, 3 maps (of 4 listed;1 folding); 7 appendices, bibliography, index; ix, 395pp, 4 maps, 10 plates, 5 appendices, bibliography, index. 8vo/22cm. Paper, light wear both volumes, Vol 1 has ca.1 inch dampstain top corner not extending to text but going into text in diminishing size about fifty pages from back, appears to lack listed map opposite p.218, otherwise clean, tight and very good; Vol 2 has previous owner signature on ffep (Baljinder Khakh), occasional pencil underlining, otherwise clean, tight and very good. Described by Tatla and Talbot (547) as a "magnus opus", and generally considered a classic, it covers the entire history of the Sikhs though later editions take it a little further into the 20th century. Khushwant Singh (1915- ) is India's best known writer and columnist. Known for his outspokenness ans sometimes called "the feisty sardar", he was founder-editor of Yojna and has been editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, the National Herald and the Hindustan Times. Among his many books, fiction and non-fiction, Train to Pakistan is a gripping story of the horror and tragedy of the population interchange in his home province of the Punjab at the time of Partition. A former member of Parliament, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest decorations in 1974 but returned it in 1984 in protest against the storming of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army..