In a first-rate work of social-historical forensics, Achyut Yagnik and Suchitra Sheth have attempted to fill in the backstory, without making glib connections or forced linkages. Indeed, at no point in the book do the authors even say that their aim is to render intelligible the events of 2002. Rather, their narrative begins with Dholavira, moves quickly on to the state’s "oppressive encounters" with Turkic invaders and British traders, and ends with Naroda-Patiya, and it is for the reader to appreciate the finely-spun continuities between the present moment and the centuries which preceded it.Given the paradoxical nature of Gujarat’s dna, this is no easy task. The authors begin by acknowledging the paradox that is their field of study. "A society which has drawn diverse people to its bosom can also be exclusive and excluding". Gujaratis have travelled the four corners of the world but are also "inexplicably insular and parochial". The state is prosperous but one-fifth of its people live in poverty. Women feel safe to move about unescorted but its female sex ratio is appallingly low. "And most intriguing of all is that two Gujaratis rose to eminence in the twentieth century, one as the father of India and the other as the father of Pakistan".