Synopsis This collection of eight essays brings together Bipan Chandra's finest writings on colonialism and nationalism in India, spanning two decades. While critically examining the colonial school of analysis (primarily developed by colonial administrators), the author in these essays lucidly puts forth his understanding of the core elements of colonialism: the complex integration of the colony with the world capitalist system, in a subordinate position; a distinct historical stage which modernized colonial societies wihout initiating independent economic development; a system which displayed three distinct phases, each characterized by a unique pattern of domination and surplus extraction; a structure where the colonial state subordinated all the economic and social classes of the colony, while it served the interests of the metropolitan bourgeoisie.