area of discrete inquiry. To say this may seem superfluous apropos such a high-profile rubric; yet as Loomba acknowledges, some first-order doubts have lingered, and she does well not to hedge them. Mapping in conjunctures/departures with contiguous left-wing, feminist and 'activist' discourses and concerns, she identifies problematic/suspect zones within some instated trends of institutional postcolonial studies (for instance within the US academe), and indicates possible corrective moves. Clinching the relevance argument are the numerous 'worked out' analyses that demonstrate the actual ways in which postcolonial studies can illuminate the subtler, more elusive facets of the colonial encounter. These are precisely the aspects that previous analysis-frameworks may have been insufficiently concerned, or equipped, to take on - the cognitive-affective experiences, subjectivity formation processes, and representational practices interfacing the more familiar 'material' phenomena of colonial-imperial penetration foregrounded in classical social-science accounts. Such hands-on 'live demos' of the mechanics and dynamics of colonial expressionality in its historic contingentness are the strongest parts of Loomba's study, and easily the most arresting. In unravelling the ideological-cultural-discursive narrative of colonialism and its aftermath, Loomba constantly dialogues with collateral matrices—feminism, literature, the ongoing common territory straddling women's studies and colonial representational strategies. It is not quite clear whether the emphasis accorded by her to certain specific exchanges is claimed as proportionately representing the actual contours of postcolonial studies, or whether her own engagements sometimes add a special accent. Either way, the results are fruitful, inventive and often strikingly perceptive. Readings and references, which are extensive, reflect the scope of literature in the field, including some of the most recent. Tracing the changing modalities and affiliates of intra-nation dominational formations on a spreading canvas that stretches from ancient empires such as Rome right upto early - modern colonial models and their 'cultural' vestiges and residual after-effects, and taking a synoptic view of numerous theorisations ranging from Lenin to Fanon and beyond, Loomba records a long history of 'coloniality', including the postcolonial after-shocks. As a survey of critical trends and history of conceptualisations the job, therefore, is thoroughgoing, yet this is much more than simply a professionalised 'review of literature' since the resumes remain continually alert to underlying conceptual issues