Setting Sun: A Memoir of Empire and Family Secrets

"Setting Sun is the story of the dying days of an Empire, combined with gripping family history, in an extraordinary literary voyage across India. When a letter from an Indian historian arrives out of the blue and informs leading academic Bart Moore-Gilbert that his beloved, deceased father, a May member of the Indian Police before Independence, partook in the abuse of civilians his world is shaken as his cherished childhood memories are challenged. He sets out in search of the truth -- discovering much about the end of empire, the state of India today, and whether his father, as one of the many characters on his quest claims, really was a terrorist. Crisscrossing western India, and following leads from bustling Mumbai to remote rural scenes, Moore-Gilbert finally pieces together the truth, ultimately discovering that the same story links the past with the present, colonial India with its modern incarnation, terrorism through the ages and father with son"--
After receiving a letter describing his late father, a World War II member of the Indian Police, as guilty of abusing Indian civilians, the author embarks on a journey across western India and describes his attempt to discover the truth about his father's past actions.
The author of Postcolonial Theory recounts his investigation into his late father's past, describing his father's uncharacteristic joining of the complex, violence-tainted Indian Police in spite of his love for the safari life.