Author: Madhav Gadgil
Ramachandra Guha/
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 274
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195633415
Description
This book presents an interpretative ecological history of the Indian subcontinent. Written lucidly and without jargon, 'This Fissured Land' is a hugely informative eye-opener for anyone with an interest in ecological issues.
The focus is on the use and abuse of forest resources, a sector to which the authors have each devoted years of research. In the first part, the authors present a general theory of ecological history. Part Two provides a fresh interpretative history of pre-modern India. Here the authors give an ecological interpretation of the caste system. In Part Three, the authors draw upon a huge wealth of source material in their socio-ecological analysis of the modes of resources use introduced into India by the British.
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS:
This book will certainly take it place on the shelf when large portions of ecological history of the globe are being plotted out. It is a book for the general reader rather than the expert, although we are in expert hands. - E P Thompson, in ' Trends in Ecology and Evolution'
This book is a breath of fresh air, . Easy, engrossing reading. - The Book Review
THE AUTHORS:
MADHAV GADGIL is Professor of Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
RAMACHANDRA GUHA is a full-time writer. He is the author of The Unquiet Woods' and 'Savaging the Civilized'.