Profound inner wisdom for courageous action—from the author of See No Stranger and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, a “prophetic voice of our generation” (America Ferrera)

How do we find the wisdom to envision a new world and the courage to fight for it?

How do we survive seemingly apocalyptic times?

In a world on fire, how do we find love and joy?

We are not the first to ask these questions—in fact, seeking answers to them forged one of the world’s great wisdom traditions. In a time riven by caste, conquest, and cruelty, Sikhs blazed the path of the sant sipahi, the sage warrior. The sage radiates love and Oneness; the warrior activates that ethical power to fight for humanity. These energies empowered the first Sikhs to survive near-annihilation in South Asia nearly half a millennium ago. The sage warrior is the essential archetype for our time of turmoil—one we can all embody to cultivate our souls and transform the world.

Valarie Kaur combines the epic, immersive story of her Sikh ancestors—centering the stories of the women who worked to map the path of the sage warrior—with the chronicle of a personal journey: her pilgrimage with her young children to the Panjab, India, where the stories unfolded, an occasionally comic adventure woven with sublime moments of connection and insight. Each chapter offers a lesson that emerges from the stories—from practicing pleasure to metabolizing grief to choosing courage.