Barbara Ramusack is Charles Phelps Taft Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati. Her publications include Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History (1999), and The Princes of India in the Twilight of Empire: The Dissolution of a Patron-Client System, 1914-1939 (1978).

• List of illustrations; General editor's preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Map; 1. Introduction: Indian princes and British imperialism; 2. Princely states prior to 1800; 3. The British construction of indirect rule; 4. The theory and experience of indirect rule in colonial India; 5. Princes as men, women, rulers, patrons and Oriental stereotypes; 6. Princely states: administrative and economic structures; 7. Princely states: society and politics; 8. Federation or integration?; Epilogue; Bibliographical essay; Glossary; Index.

'Barbara Ramusack's The Indian Princes and their States is a significant contribution to the history of princely India and the nature of indirect rule under British paramountcy … The Indian Princes and their States is a long overdue treatment of princely India during the colonial period … Her research is rich, interweaving primary literary and oral sources, colonial and postcolonial histories, archival photographs, paintings, maps, and references to literature, film and music. Her prose is readable; her language concise and clear. Furthermore, there is a sense of this scholar's deep interest in her topic … It is a vital resource on an area of Indian history that has often been neglected.' Journal of the Oxford University History Society