A feuding bunch of Pathans from the NW border of undivided India lead a 17-year long non-violent struggle for autonomy, independence and self-reliance. Badshah Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgars may have had a bittersweet end to their movement, but they could celebrate their moral victory for their unwavering belief in non-violence in the face of unimaginable atrocities.

The book is a commendable and significant effort in collecting and preserving oral history and brings a forgotten movement to life and offers a brilliant anthropological account of its people and their way of life.