The tale of Hyderabad State's demise has been recounted numerous times. This study aims to update the official historical version of the 1948 "police operation" launched by the Indian army against the forces and government of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which has been mostly told by the "court historians" of Indian nationalism. Based on archival sources in Hyderabad that have largely gone unexplored by academics, The Destruction of Hyderabad provides a detailed account of the diplomatic exchanges between the Government of India and the Government of Hyderabad during the British Raj and after Partition and Independence in 1947. The author has unearthed contemporary diplomatic correspondence, the Sunderlal Committee report on the massacre of the State's Muslim population during and after the ?police action? (since suppressed by the Indian state), and a wealth of memoirs and first-hand accounts of the clandestine workings of territorial nationalism in its bleakest and most shameful hour. The author brings to light the largely ignored and fateful intervention of M.A. Jinnah in the destruction of Hyderabad, both while he was President of the Muslim League and after he became Governor General of Pakistan. He also addresses the communal leanings of Sardar Patel and his hand-picked Agent-General K.M. Munshi in shaping Hyderabad?s fate. The book is dedicated to the ?other? Hyderabad: a culturally syncretic state, a tolerant society, and a rich composite culture which communal forces in India found alien.