This new edition carries a very useful 21-page introduction by Peter Penner (in addition to the original introduction) by Philip Mason, author of The Men Who Ruled India and an epilogue by Beames's grandson, Christopher Cooke, that assesses Beames as an administrator and a scholar. Eminently readable, the edition is particularly welcome at a time when memoirs like this are increasingly being viewed as valuable sources for an interpretation of the British Raj.