I suppose the impulse to write this book dates back to my shame and anger in India when men and women of my own race extolled suttee, and the amazement with which I first saw the memorials of Hindu kings, with the sati's couching forms.

But the impulse was slight, and would have slept but for a publisher's interest. Messrs. Allen & Unwin passed on to me questions asked about suttee by their reader when reporting on my share in Three Eastern Plays. Receiving my reply, they suggested that I should right on this subject.

Edward John Thompson (9 April 1886 - 28 April 1946) was a British scholar, novelist, historian and translator. He is remembered for his translations from Bengali into English and his association with Rabindranath Tagore, on whom he wrote two books including a critical biography.

Thompson died in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire of stomach cancer on 28 April 1946. He was 60. He is buried at the Bledlow church. India's Prisoner is a biography of his life by Mary Lago.

I. Origin of Suttee II. Prevalence and Area of the Rite: Suttee Memorials III. The Form That Suttee Took IV. Reasons for Suttee V. Was Suttee Voluntary VI. Attempts at Prohibition: Last Years of Legal Suttee in British India VII. Prohibition in British India VIII. The suppression of Suttee in Native States IX. Illegal Suttee X. Legal Suttee To-Day XI. Concluding Considerations