Representations of India, 1740-1840, considers how writing in that century justified and was affected by the introduction and extension of British domination of India, thus demonstrating the link between writing and the ideological, economic and political climate and debates.

It proposes that initial interest in the great wealth gained in India by 'nabobs' was gradually concealed behind ideas of military, social, religious and racial superiority, thus laying the foundations for the Victorian excuse of a 'civilizing mission'.

Drawing on a range of fiction and non-fiction, Chatterjee analyses examples of representations of Britons in India (traders, soldiers and administrators), Indian religion and religious practices (religion itself, and the practices of sati and thuggee), Indian society and government and rulers (with a separate study of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan). In doing so, the author fills the gap between perceptions of the early colonial 'exotic East' and the later 'primitive subject nation'.