ABSTRACT
In 1885, A.P. MacDonnell likened the fate of those condemned to a 'thorough study of the rent question' in Bihar and Bengal to that once faced by a criminal who was offered a choice between instant death and a perusal of Guicciardini's history: 'The criminal weakly chose the history, but repenting of his choice, after years of torture, craved immediate execution'. 1 MacDonnell spoke feelingly at the end of long years of controversy, in which heat was not proportionate to weight. And the rent question was not only tedious but also complex. At some risk therefore, this and the following chapters will examine the main ideas thrown up in the debate. The main purpose is not to explain the politics or even to describe the decision-making, but to identify analyses of rural society which continue to have influence to this day.
