This book describes the events leading up to the accession of Hyderabad, the efforts for which had begun even as India approached the date of independence. It was only after negotiating as much as possible that the Indian union finally decided to go for a direct military solution. This piece of History, which is very much a part of the efforts to create a unified India, has not been given the prominent place it deserves in the annals of unification of the princely states. Manreet Sodhi’s book does this very thing with plenty of elan and aplomb.