Ecologist Madhav Gadgil and historian Ramachandra Guha offer fresh perspectives both on the ecological history of India and on theoretical issues of interest to environmental historians regardless of geographical specialization.

Juxtaposing data from India with the ecological literature on lifestyles as diverse as those of modern Americans and Amazonian Indians, the authors analyze the social conflicts that have emerged over environmental exploitation and explore the impact of changing patterns of resource use on human societies. They present a socio-ecological analysis of the modes of...

Expanded Edition

This new, expanded edition of The Unquiet Woods, Ramachandra Guha's pathbreaking study of peasant movements against commercial forestry, offers a new epilogue that brings the story of Himalayan social protest up-to-date, reflecting the Chipko movement's continuing influence in the wider world. A new appendix charts the progress of environmental history in India. The bibliography and index have been revised and updated.

Based on research conducted over two decades, this accessible and deeply felt book provides a provocative comparative history of environmentalism in two large ecologically and culturally diverse democraciesIndia and the United States. Ramachandra Guha takes as his point of departure the dominant environmental philosophies in these two countriesidentified as "agrarianism" in India and "wilderness thinking" in the U.S. Proposing an inclusive "social ecology" framework that goes beyond these partisan ideologies, Guha arrives at a richer understanding of controversies over large dams, state...

Articulates the values and orientation of the environmentalism of the poor, and explores the conflicting priorities of South and North that were so dramatically highlighted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This book presents analyses of environmental conflicts and ideologies in four continents: North and South America, Asia and Europe.

This Fissured Land, first published in 1992, presents an interpretative history ecological history of the Indian subcontinent. It offers a theory of ecological prudence and profligacy, testing this theory across the wide sweep of South Asian history. The book especially focuses on the use and abuse of forest resources. In Part One, the authors present a general theory of ecological history. Part Two provides a fresh interpretative history of pre-modern India along with an ecological interpretation of the caste system. In Part Three, the authors draw upon a huge wealth of source material...

The twenty-first century has been dubbed the Asian Century. Highlighting diverse thinker-politicians rather than billionaire businessmen, Makers of Modern Asia presents eleven leaders who theorized and organized anticolonial movements, strategized and directed military campaigns, and designed and implemented political systems.