A sweeping historical narrative examines the unmaking of the Indian Empire, tracing how colonial border-making, communal politics, and state violence carved up the Indian subcontinent from the 1930s through the 1970s. It presents partition as a recurring process rather than a singular event, revealing how successive divisions remade communities, identities, and national boundaries at enormous human cost.

The book combines extensive archival research, personal testimonies, and vivid storytelling to illuminate how a single, sprawling dominion ultimately became twelve modern nations. It delves into the ambition and betrayal, forgotten wars, and unlikely alliances that shaped the map of modern Asia, exploring the legacies of civil war, insurgencies, and mass migrations.