This engaging book, based on Atreyee Sen's immersion into the low-income, working-class slums of Bombay, tells the story of the women and children of the ShivSena, one of the most radical and violent of the Hindu nationalist parties thatdominated Indian politics throughout the 90s and into the present. The Sena women'sfront has been instrumental in creating and sustaining communal violence, directedprimarily against their Muslim neighbors. The author presents the Sena women's ownrationale for organizing themselves along paramilitary lines, as poor women andchildren have used violence and "gang-ism" to create a distinctive social identity, networks of material support, and protection from male violence in the explosiveenvironment of the slums. Sen's moving account foregrounds the ethical dilemmas thatsurrounded her "covert" research and writing of the book, and she considers widerquestions involving women, violence, and religious fundamentalism.