On 25 July 1947, India’s last viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, stood before the Chamber of Princes to deliver the most important speech of his career. He had just three weeks to convince over 550 princely states – some the size of Britain, some so small that cartographers had trouble locating them – to become part of a free India. The alternative was unthinkable – the fragmentation of the subcontinent into dozens of autocratic fiefdoms. This is the beginning of John Zubrzycki’s marvellous retelling of the story of how the princely states were coaxed, coerced, out maneuvered or bludgeoned into joining India.D