Book excerpt: This book is based on in-depth research that triangulates information from several primary sources, to provide hitherto unknown facts about Sai Baba, village Shirdi and some of the people who visited it during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It not only adds to the repository of knowledge about this great saint of India and the role that he played in the context of protecting his devotees during India’s struggle for freedom, but additionally provides new insights by raising questions and seeking answers through analysis of rare documents drawn from the National Archives, police records and diaries pertaining to that time as well as reviewing personal documents and literature in different languages. Written in Chicago-style Citation, it contains nine chapters dealing with different aspects of Sai Baba’s life in Shirdi. The book has several rare documents and photographs of Shirdi Sai Baba and his devotees as well as compositions of Shirdi of that time. A glossary is provided at the end of the book for ease of reference. The book will be a valuable asset not just for all those who are devotees of Sai Baba and other Sadgurus, but also for students and academicians who have an interest in India’s culture and history and in the means used by the British to understand and control developments in different parts of the country.