In this rigorously researched book, Kim A. Wagner uncovers the experiences of ordinary people, British and Indian, and puts the reader at the centre of the simmering discontent and anxieties of April 1919. Situating the massacre within the ‘deep’ context of the colonial mindset and the local dynamics of Indian nationalism, Wagner argues that Dyer’s order to open fire was triggered by fears of an imaginary rebellion. 'Jallianwala Bagh' provides an innovative and nuanced approach to the dramatic events at Amritsar and unearths untold narratives that shed new light upon the bloody history of the British Empire.