The essays in this book were originally published together as a special issue of the Journal of Modern Asian Studies, released in July 1981.

1. Nationalisms and the crisis of empire, 1919¿1922 John Gallagher; 2. 'An English barrack in the Oriental seas?' India in the aftermath of the First World War Keith Jeffrey; 3. Britain and India between the wars John Gallagher and Anil Seal; 4. Alternative to partition: Muslim politics between the wars Ayesha Jalal and Anil Seal; 5. Colonial firms and the decline of colonialism in Eastern India 1914¿1947 B. R. Tomlinson; 6. Indian business and the Congress Provincial Governments 1937¿39 Claude Markovits; 7. Business and politics in the 1930s: Lancashire and the making of the Indo-British Trade Agreement, 1939 B. Chatterji; 8. Colonial rule and the internal economy in twentieth-century Madras Christopher Baker; 9. Workers' politics and the mill districts in Bombay between the wars Rajnarayan Chandavarkar; 10. Law, state and society in colonial India D. A. Washbrook.