The book demonstrates that social control took on a far more subtle and therefore invidious form after the mutiny. There were fewer Acts of Parliament legislating the moral uplift of the people of India; the action shifted to the municipal committees with native participants that framed innumerable bylaws which regulated city life and ensured the safety of the Raj. Queen Victoria’s famous proclamation of 1858 had expressly guaranteed legal and official protection for the ancient customs and usages of Indian society; at the same time Brigadier Napier was executing his master plan of Lucknow that converted the main Muslim holy places into temporary barracks. The author argues that it is only by examining local sources that we realize the true depth of the changes brought about by colonial reconstruction.