Hew McLeod is generally acknowledged as the world’s foremost historian of the Sikhs. This autobiography comprises two parts, both concerned with the author’s career in Sikh Studies. Part I is on features of McLeod’s career which have had an important influence on his relationship with the Sikhs and with the manner in which he has sought to give expression to them. Two features have been particularly significant: his view of religion, and his understanding of the nature and value of historical studies. Part 2 concerns Sikh studies and the attacks that have been made on McLeod’s views regarding Sikh history and religion. An attempt is made to answer these charges and to show that McLeod’s analysis of Sikh history and religion has always been critical and dispassionate, yet sympathetic. Hew McLeod taught in Punjab for nine years and there developed a life-long interest in the Sikhs. In 1971 he returned to the History department of the University of Otago in Dunedin, where he remained until his retirement in 1998. His first book was Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, published in 1968. Since then he has produced many books on Sikh history and religion.
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