Like many British authors of books about India before independence, William Harrison Moreland (1868–1938) had worked as a civil servant in the subcontinent. He spent twenty-five years in the North-West Provinces, and for twelve years he was Director of Land Records and Agriculture. He was committed to improving the agricultural system of the region, and even established an agricultural college in Kanpur. After he retired, he decided to examine old land and revenue records, resulting in this work, which was published in 1929. Starting in the thirteenth century, the book gives a historical context to the changing land use and revenue practices in India. Moreland also examines the role of religious law and the influence of successive regimes and rulers on the development of agrarian practices as well as on the lives and work of India's peasantry.