Drawing on his experiences in Punjab as director general of police from 3 July 1984—within weeks of Operation Blue Star—to 22 August 1985, Kirpal Dhillon writes about the phase of militancy in the state as not just a law and order problem but a question of Sikh nationalism, of a minority under threat. This is an insider’s view of the factors that bedeviled Punjab for close to two decades. Coming from a man who witnessed the drama first-hand and analyzed its historical causes, this book is a valuable addition to literature on the Sikh community’s darkest years—a phase that is not necessarily over.