James Long, Calcutta and Its Neighborhood: History of Calcutta and its People from 1690-1357 (Calcutta, 1974), edited by Sankar Sen Gupta; Sukanta Chauduri, Calcutta, The Living City Volume I: The Past (Calcutta, 1990); Pradip Sinha, Calcutta in Urban History (Calcutta, 1978); Durba Ghosh, "Colonial Companions: Bibis, Begums, and Concubines of the British in North India.

For those unfamiliar with the history of eighteenth-century India, the charges and counter-charges surrounding Hastings get lost in such arcane matters as disputes over the Nawob of Arcot's debts, his invasion of Tanjore, and the retaliation of Hyder Ali of Mysore; the treatment of Cheyt Singh, the Rajah of Benares; and the seizure of the assets of the widowed Begums of Oude (among other means, through torturing their servants).