This work investigates the systemic exploitation of Indian indentured laborers as a functional replacement for enslaved populations following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Professor Hugh Tinker, a noted historian of South Asia and colonial administration, utilizes extensive archival records and colonial office reports to argue that the indenture system mirrored the coercive structures of chattel slavery. He posits that the economic necessity of plantation agriculture drove colonial powers to implement a new, legally sanctioned form of forced labor that persisted for nearly a century.

Historians and scholars of the British Empire frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the transition from slavery to indenture in colonial economies. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous, data-driven examination of colonial labor policies.