Revision of a book that has long been well-received presents serious problems. Inadequate revision ignores the advancement of knowledge made in recent years, and is likely to make it less useful, if not dated. Too much of revision may less serve the purpose with which the book was originally written. My task was made more difficult by the fact that so much has been written on the Indian National Movement since the publication of the second edition. I have incorporated the findings of the latest researches and have analysed the personalities and movements in the light of new evidence and knowledge. In the process, I hope, the utility of the book has been enhanced and it will be found more useful by Under-Graduate, Honours and Post-Graduate students as well as others interested in the history of India's struggle for independence.

I have received much help and cooperation from my friends and colleagues. Professor Amitabha Mukherjee, Dr. Pranjal Kumar Bhattacharya, Sm. Papia Chakravarty and Dr. Jayanti Maitra have ungrudgingly given me the benefit of their expertise in the subject. Sri Kalisankar Bose, Dr. Subhas Chandra Bandyopadhyay, Sm. Saroj Makin, Sri Ram Chandra Makin, Dr. Pradyot Sengupta and Dr. Jolly Sengupta have been sources of encouragement. Sm. Lina Bose and Dr. Supratik Basu gave me freedom from household duties so that I could give more time to the writing of the history of the freedom movement.

I am thankful to Sri Sripati Prosad Ghosh and Sri Sukhendu Pal of KLM (P) Ltd., Sri Amulya Nag and the staff of the Prabartak Press for expediting the publication notwithstanding the ever-increasing problem of load shedding' in Calcutta. I am especially grateful to all those teachers and students whose constructive criticism and suggestions have enriched the book and increased its usefulness.