History of the Sikhs Vol 1 (SECOND EDITION) - Singh, Khushwant (Mr, Mr, Former Editor, The Hindustan Times and The Illustrated Weekly of India)

This is the standard and well established book on its subject, accessible to a general non scholarly audience, while being based on scholarly archival research. Singh exhaustively covers the genesis and development of Sikhism and the Sikh community, up to the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.