Research based historical works on the cities of the subcontinent are still very few. Fewer still are the works on the history and development of cities and towns of Bangladesh. In this context professor Sharif uddin Ahmed's book on Dhaka -History and Urban Development 1840-1921 may be taken as an exception. It is one of the few urban studies, which carries through the 'old order 'to the new administrative towns of British rule and attempts to show what happened to the communities of townsmen in the period of adaptation. Once a very prosperous Mughal capital Dhaka declined so sharply during the early 19th century that its very existence was threatened. But its geographical location and other factors soon led to its revival as an administrative centre. Dr. Ahmed has elaborately described and analysed this revival of a great city and its role in modern South Asia. The work also discusses the development in Dhaka of a western-style municipal organization and its financial and practical problems and also the economic transition of the city after 1840 especially the contribution of the jute boom to its prosperity. It casts new light on the function and organisation of South Asian urban societies in the colonial period on the transfer of western institutions and on the organisation and composition of Bengal trade outside Kolkata. Surely it is an outstanding work on the urban studies of the subcontinent.