The book, Encyclopedia of Indian War of Independence 1857-1947, by M K Singh presents a comprehensive picture of the Indian war of independence that began in 1857 and continued till 1947.

Discontentment and protests had begun earlier with freedom fighters like Raja Rammohan Roy and gradually, this fire spread throughout the country. Many important freedom fighters and eminent scholars were imprisoned during this time. These men were thinkers, writers, poets, legal personnel and doctors who fought for the freedom of the country. Some followed liberal ideas while others were extremists and revolutionaries.

The book has been designed to present the Indian war of Independence in a detailed and systematic form. It contains separate chapters for each era , such as the section on 1857 which was the era of revolt and of the Sepoy Mutiny. Subsequent events are discussed in the following chapters like the Birth of Indian National Congress and its establishment as well as the moderate phase with Ranade, Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee and W C Banerjee as the leaders.The phase of the extremists saw great men like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Paul, Lala Lajpat Rai, Subhash Chandra Bose and many others.

The revolutionaries who played an active role in the freedom struggle were Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Ajit Singh and Rash Behari Bose. Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru spearheaded the Gandhian era. Subsequent chapters of the book deal with the architects of the Indian Constitution, the leaders of underground movement and women freedom fighters.