This fine work is not only one of the few full-length studies of a modern South Asian author to have been written in English, but is also the only comprehensive work on the Urdu short story writer Saadat Hasab Manto to have appeared in any language. By combining literary history, personal biography, and critical analysis, the author provides a detailed and illuminating survey of the life and works on one of the best) and most controversial) figures in modern Urdu letters.