"Peasants and imperial rule: Agriculture and agrarian society in the Bombay presidency, 1850-1935."

This book is a detailed historical study of agriculture and agrarian society in a major province of British India, the Bombay Presidency. Its objective is to examine the impact of British rule on the Indian peasantry, and the changes it brought.

Among the specific issues discussed by the author are the development of the British land revenue system, the pattern of expansion in commercial agriculture and the consequences in terms of ownership and organisation of land and agrarian social structure. Dr Charlesworth goes on to look at the role of government policy, the nature of peasant protest movements and the effects of the interwar depression. He concludes that significant long-term economic and social change did occur but that the highly 'differential' pattern to commercialisation prevented any structural transformation in the peasant economy and society.

This book makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of the changing nature of Indian rural society under the British Raj. It will be of interest to students and scholars concerned with the economic, social and agrarian history of British India, and to specialists of Third World and Development Studies in general.