Why did the nonviolent Meerut mutiny of 1857 in India explode into a violent military revolt which quickly spread into a subcontinental war that threatened to destroy the British Empire from within? Breaking new ground on the events of May 10, William Pinch reexamines the evidence, shifting our focus toward the identity of female participants and their actions in the hours before the revolt began. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including Hindi folksongs, military records, police reports, literary fiction, and Urdu memoir, he creates snapshots from the perspective of key figures to uncover the social and emotional world of the military "cantonment" and its rural hinterland. By foregrounding the lives of ordinary "military women" and "their men" — the Indian sepoys who peopled the revolt — Pinch challenges conventional narratives and guides readers through the literary and historiographical echoes of the fateful decision to take up arms against the British.

‘A refreshing retelling of the 1857 revolt that puts the micro-optic on the cantonment town of Meerut to call out hitherto unheard tales of women, prostitutes, Sepoys and ordinary people. A brilliant narrative that both thrills and informs.'

Seema Alavi - Ashoka University

‘This gripping revisionist narrative of 1857 proves that behind every mutinous sepoy there was a world of women doing the unsung work of anti-colonialism. Drawing on facts and fictions, Pinch brings them out of the shadows of the sadr bazaar and into imperial history for good.'

Antoinette Burton - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

‘The bazaar at Meerut, a liminal space wherein mingled British and Indian bodies and practices, is deftly explored by William Pinch in this richly textured microhistory that provides insights into what transformed mutinying sepoys into rebels in 1857 and illuminates the critical role played by the women of the cantonment.'

Douglas M. Peers - University of Waterloo

‘This brilliant microhistory of why soldiers in Meerut revolted in 1857 offers a riveting narrative that is centered atypically on marginalized women. It is an innovative take on the cataclysmic revolt of 1857 and a perspicacious meditation on the writing of history itself. An absolute must read!'

Mrinalini Sinha - University of Michigan

‘Pinch's book is a tour de force, a brilliant reframing of the story of the Revolt of 1857. In this microhistorical tome, Pinch draws out the social and emotional world of the pre-mutiny Meerut cantonment and the heretofore ignored incendiary role that women – female relatives, wives, concubines, mistresses and prostitutes (tawaifs) - played in the mutiny. The book's engaging narrative interweaves military history with histories of emotions, gender, fictive histories and literary fiction to advance a novel way of thinking about history as ontology.'

Aparna Vaidik - Ashoka University