The Ramachandra Guha Omnibus

The Ramachandra Guha Omnibus

Product ID: 15043

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Author: Ramachandra Guha
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 438
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195668111

Description

This is an omnibus edition of three path-breaking works by a historian described in the New York Times as perhaps the best among India's non-fiction writers.

The Unquiet Woods puts into historical perspective the well-known Chipko movement, a peasant movement against commercial forestry in Uttarakhand. The author forcefully establishes that Chipko was but a continuation of an earlier history of social protest, in which peasants had consistently mobilized themselves in defence of their rights of forest ownership and use. The most important consequences of colonial rule were the takeover of the forests by the state and the introduction of commercial forestry. As the village communities lost their traditional rights over the surrounding forests, the ecological degradation of the region followed. For the Uttarakhand peasantry, Chipko was not a consciously environmental movement, but, rather, a battle for survival.

Environmentalism: A Global History details the major t re nds, ideas, campaigns, and thinkers within the environemntal movement worldwide. Guha identifies three distinct schools, which he terms back to the land, scientific conservation, and wilderness thinking respectively. He profiles thinkers from all over the globe such as John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Mahatma Gandhi, Rachel Carson and Lewis Mumford. Among the social movements Guha discusses are the Green Party in Germany, Waangari Mathai's Green Belt movement in Kenya, environmental dissent in the Soviet Union and China, Chico Mendes' struggle in Brazil, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Savaging the Civilized brings to life one of the most remarkable figures of twentieth-century India, Verrier Elwin, an anthropologist, poet and activist from England who lived among the tribes of India and recorded his life with them. It reveals a many-sided scholar and writer, a friend of Nehru and Gandhi who was also at home with the impoverished and the destitute. This book is both biogra phy and history, an exploration through Elwin's life of such critical issues as the future of development, cultural pluralism, and the moral practice of intellectuals.

With a freshly written Introduction, this omnibus will appeal to historians, environmental buffs, and fans of Ramachandra Guha.

REVIEWS

THE UNQUIET WOODS

An uncommon story told in an uncommonly eloquent manner, It is bound to become a classic.
-American Ethnologist

A significant illustration of the insights which the trained historian and sociologist can offer in the examination of a contemporary social movement.
-Indian Express

ENVIRONMENTALISM: A GLOBAL HISTORY

A volume of eminently readable narrative, It conveys its message in a highly palatable form. The author’s interest, and the clarity he gives to, events, is endlessly refreshing.
-Biblio

This is the first truly global history of environmental thought and activism. Superbly crafted, it deserves to be read by all concerned with the well-being of the environment on our lonely planet.
-The Hindu

SAVING THE CIVILIZED

Elwin deserves his excellent biography by Ramachandra Guha, an enthusiast writing about an enthusiast, an anthropologist and ecological historian who shares and understands his subject’s principal concerns. (Elwin) understood, loved and defended the people he studied, and thoroughly merits this rehabilitation.
-The Spectator

An excellent biography, the best example of the genre by an Indian for many years, A vastly enjoyable book.
-The Times Literary Supplement

Contents

INTRODUCTION

The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya

Environmentalism: A Global History

Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India