Volume I of this series of three books begins with a close study of the events starting from the early eighteenth century, and covers ground up to the year 1793 when the Permanent Zamindari Settlement in Bengal marked the closure to a contentious issue after much experimentation. The essays in this volume deal with themes like political history and warfare; activities of the various European companies; maritime economy; internal trade and markets; demography and environment; growth of Calcutta; zamindars; urbanization and de-urbanization; banking and credit; art and artists; social banditry; and Islam and the Muslim literati.

Volume II begins with the Bengal Renaissance, with essays on Rammohan Roy, the Derozians, the Tagores, Vidyasagar, and religious thought and social reform in nineteenth-century Bengal. The volume is rich in the depiction of the social and cultural history of Bengal, with essays on Calcutta as a commercial metropolis; the middle-class intelligentsia; castes in Bengal; popular culture; Bengali language and literature; the growth of journalism and public opinion; and industrial economy, peasant economy, banking and credit. The idea of legal modernity; the Sundarbans; medicine and public health; the ramifications of the 1857 Revolt in Bengal; and Bengali Muslims and their literature have also been touched upon.

The third and last volume begins with the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and the main theme dealt with is the anti-imperialist struggle, with a focus on nationalist and communalist politics between 1905 and 1947. The series discusses the Swadeshi era; civil society and politics in Bengal and its nationalist trajectory; the Muslim League; and Bengal’s communal challenge during 1940–7. It delves into social questions: the adivasi quest for a new culture; caste and politics in Bengal; the rise of a middle-class intelligentsia; the evolution of a Muslim literati; and the story of the Hindi-speaking people in Calcutta. Furthermore, three essays also explore the marginalized position of women in Bengal.