The undisputed master of the modern Indian short story." -- Salman Rushdie Stories encircling the marginalized, forgotten lives of Bombay, set against the backdrop of the India-Pakistan Partition. Fresh translations and by far the most comprehensive collection of stories by this 20th Century master available in English. Manto vividly conjures life on the streets of Bombay -- its prostitutes, pimps, gangsters, artists, writers, and those caught in the fore of the India-Pakistan partition. (For his gritty, unflinching accounts of street life, Manto was tried for obscenity six times.) Deeply opposed to partition, Manto is best known for his portrayals of its violence and absurdities. From an ownerless dog caught in the firing squad at the border of the two countries, to neighbors turned enemy soldiers pausing for tea together in a short cease fire -- Manto challenges the edges of geographic, cultural, and social boundaries with an unflinching and satirical gaze, and a powerful humanism. A half a century later these stories remain prescient, illuminating so many of the glaring and silenced conflicts that plague humanity today.