Addressing a wide range of issues, the essays in this collection reflect the changing currents of scholarship in the historiography of India in the last four decades. Written over a span of forty years from the 1960s to the present, they demonstrate how Thomas R. Metcalf has shaped the emerging methodologies and trends to examine more enduring issues from various angles. The essays are grouped in three sections: land tenure and land policy, colonial architecture, and overseas migration. Many of these take the revolt of 1857 as a turning point. They take close look at the institutions, policies and strategies employed by the British Raj and critically assess the ways in which they were employed to sustain and legitimize the imperial presence. Metcalf also explores how these ideas and policies affected the lives of ordinary Indians, from the landed elite to the lowly labourers and migrants. In a comprehensive introduction, he provides an overview of the issues interlinking the essays and places each piece in perspective in the context of his career and interests. For its panoramic grasp of the issues which have been relevant to the history of colonial India, this remarkable collection will be indispensable to historians, young scholars, and students interested in colonial history and historiography. Lucidly written, this volume will also be an engaging read for the informed general reader.
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