This book marks a new approach to the study of Indian economic history. The great issues in the debates among historians so far have been the effects of colonial rule in the subcontinent during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Economic institutions were investigated in depth mainly from the point of view of policy-makers. The actual performance of the economy, the rate of its integration, and the decomposition of the causal forces at work were questions to which only insufficient attention was paid. Dr Islam takes as his central theme of inquiry the measurement of agricultural output in Bengal during the period from 1920 to 1946. The extension of the market for agricultural crops, which was a notable feature of the agrarian economy of India in the nineteenth century, failed to produce any significant concomitant industrial–urban development. Furthermore, agriculture itself stagnated after the initial effects of market expansion had worked itself out. The absence of major industrialising efforts not only limited the produce and labour markets but also prevented innovation in crop techniques and possible changes in the institution of landholding. Dr Islam has taken these questions as his point of departure and tried to quantify the precise direction of Bengal's economy for a critical period of this century. His book is the first serious attempt on the part of a historian from South Asia to use advanced statistical methods and techniques of computer analysis to provide answers to historical problems. Dr Islam has made an exhaustive analysis of the available crop statistics for all the districts of Bengal and computed the trend rates for output, yield, and acreage.