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ISBN 0-8059-9734-2 ROSEDOG BOOKS 701 Smithfielf St. 3rd Floor. Pittsburgh, Pa 15222 $14.00

by Nirmal S. Mann, M.D., Ph.D.

This fascinating biography gives us a detailed glimpse of the social, economic, and political conditions in early-twentieth-century California. It chronicles the prejudice and discrimination encountered by minority groups and the devastating effects of the Alien Land Law. Panjabi farmers succeeded in the face of legal, social, and cultural barriers placed in their path.

To put the life of Pakher Singh Gill in perspective, Nirmal S. Mann has summarized Gill’! s Sikh and Scythian ancestral history, making this book useful to students of history and sociology.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

An avid reader of history, biography, and sociology, Nirmal S. Mann reads and writes Urdu and English poems as a hobby. He has published two collections of Urdu poems.

Mann received his initial training at the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Panjab University, India, and went on to do graduate training at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. He currently serves as professor of medicine and gastroenterology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and director of gastroenterology-hepatology at the V.A. Medical Center, Martinez.

His wife, Surinder K. Mann, M.D., is also a member of the U.C. Davis faculty. Their older daughter, Neel, is a medical resident at UCLA; their younger daughter, Sheel, is a recent law-school graduate. The couple lives in Davis, California.

! (2005, paperback, 120 pages)

The Life and Times of Pakher Singh Gill

A Panjabi Californian in the Early Twentieth Century

Nirmal S. Mann

Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . RoseDog Books, 2005

 

Table of Contents

 

  1. Pictures and Figures….......................ix
  2. Foreword……….....................……...xi
  3. Preface………..................……....…xiii
  4. Introduction………..................….....xv
  5. The Scythians and the Jutts…..….......1
  6. The Sikhs ……….....................….......6
  7. P.S. Gill in Calcutta , Hong Kong, Shanghai , and Seattle ………............31
  8. California in the Mid-nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century.......….34
  9. Panjabis in California ………............43
  10. P.S. Gill in the Imperial Valley .......51

 

 

11. The Fateful Day…………….....…....58
12.The Aftermath: The Trials……........62
13. Victor R. Sterling, John B. Hager,and William R. Thornburg………...64
14. P.S. Gill in Prison 1925- 1940...…...67
15. P.S. Gill Tries a Comeback1940-1970…...........................….….70
16. P.S. Gill Visits India 1970……........74
17. P.S. Gill Visits England 1971….......77
18. The Last Days of P.S. Gill…......…..80 19.Epilogue………………....................82
20. Sources of Information…......….…..85