Earlier historians of India's economic history have argued that traditional manufacturing in India was destroyed or devitalized during the colonial period, and that "modern industry" is substantially different. Exploring new material from research into five traditional industries, Tirthankar Roy's book contests these notions, demonstrating that while traditional industry did evolve during the industrial revolution, these transformations had a galvanizing rather than negative effect on manufacturing generally. The book offers new and penetrating insights into the study of India's economic and social history.