Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World

by John Keay

Overview

'John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes' Dan Snow

'Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is' Michael Palin

History has not been kind to Himalaya. Empires have collided here, cultures have clashed. Buddhist India claimed it from the south, Islam put down roots in its western approaches, Mongols and Manchus rode in from the north, and, from the east, China continues to absorb what it prefers not to call Tibet. Hunters have decimated its wildlife and mountaineers have bagged its peaks. Today, machinery gouges minerals out of its rock.

Roughly the size of Europe, the region is one of the most seismically active on the planet. Summers bring avalanches, rainfall triggers landslides and winters obliterate trails. Glaciers retreat, rivers change course and whole lakes quietly evaporate.

To some, Himalaya is an otherworldly realm, profoundly life-changing, yet forbidding and forbidden. It has mesmerised scholars and mystics, sportsmen and spies, pilgrims and mapmakers who have mingled with the farmers and traders on the 'Roof of the World'.

Himalaya is the story of one of the last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and improbable achievements of its pioneers. Ranging from botany to trade, from the Great Game to today's geopolitics, John Keay draws on a lifetime of exploration and study to enlighten and delight with this lively biography of a region in crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408891124
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/15/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

John Keay's involvement with Himalaya dates back to the 1960s when he was a foreign correspondent in Kashmir. In the 1970s he published two works on the exploration of the Western Himalayas and in the 1980s he wrote and presented a seven-part BBC Radio 3 documentary series on the Himalayan kingdoms. He has continued to specialise in Asian affairs, his books including 5000-year histories of both India and China. Himalaya is the summation of a lifetime's study. John Keay is married, has four children, lives in the West Highlands of Scotland and travels whenever he can.

johnkeay.com
John Keay has been writing about Himalaya and traveling there since the 1960s. He wrote the two-volume Explorers of the Western Himalayas and wrote and presented a major BBC R3 documentary series on the Himalayan kingdom; other works include India: A History and China: A History. He has contributed to about a dozen anthologies and multi-authored works on the region and written the text for several photographic studies. He reviews for the Literary Review and the TLS. The Royal Society for Asian Affairs awarded him its Sykes medal for his "literary contribution to Asian studies" in 2009. He has been a Royal Literary Fund fellow since 2010. Himalaya, his twenty-second book, will be the summation of a lifetime's study. He lives in Scotland.

Table of Contents

Maps ix

Preface xix

Prologue xxi

1 An Orogenous Zone 1

2 War of the Plates 21

3 A Domain of Animals 43

4 When Men and Monkeys Meet 69

5 Of Flowers and Towers 83

6 Scholar, Explorer, Writer, Pilgrim 101

7 Pilgrims' Progress 119

8 The Karakoram Anomaly 147

9 Sublime Deliverance 169

10 Swede and Swami 187

11 Sages and Heroes 213

12 Gold Dust and Yak Tails 241

13 Shawl Wars 267

14 Mountains of Destiny 287

Epilogue 317

Notes 339

Acknowledgments 359

Image Credits 363

Index 367

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent … both Himalaya and Erika Fatland’s High are ideal books for armchair travelers, packed with information and entertaining anecdotes. You will learn a lot from them—though not, of course, the way to reach fabled Tralla La. That must remain a secret." - Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"A fascinating assemblage of anecdotes, crisscrossing deep gorges and mountain passes, visiting exotic retreats with unfamiliar names, and leaping back and forth across the centuries, true to the unique mix of nature and culture that is Himalaya…Keay’s narrative, compellingly complex as the Himalaya itself, touches on all these subjects, offering, as if from highest ground, exhilarating vistas in every direction." - Natural History Magazine

“A panoramic overview of the history, archaeology, geology, politics, religions, and cultures of the storied mountain range, highlighting the individuals who have aspired to reach its peaks, visited its sacred sites, investigated its flora and fauna, and created its vivid mythology … A wide-ranging adventure into rugged terrain.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A singularly unique and seminal study…impressively informative, exceptionally well written, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation. An inherently fascinating and thought-provoking read from cover to cover, Himalaya is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists for anyone with an interest in Central Asian History.” —Midwest Book Review

“An important work on an imperiled land, best suited to collections with an emphasis on geography, geology, or environmentalism.” —Library Journal

“A lively, wide-ranging primer on the towering mountain ranges known collectively as the Himalayas … timely, authoritative.” —Booklist

"I started this book thinking a better understanding of Himalaya would merely augment my knowledge of the area. But I ended believing I’d stumbled upon a wholly unique, hidden region with a surprisingly central role in our history, especially regarding climate change and the religious impulses that buttress its natives. It’s also a place that could not be subdued by Europeans. It stands apart, mystified and demystified in Keay’s Himalaya, challenging our assumptions about the planet and its peoples." - Washington Independent Review of Books

From the Publisher

09/01/2022

Keay (Explorers of the Western Himalayas; The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner) takes readers on an exploration of a vast and ecologically varied region, following in the footsteps of (primarily European) adventurers, administrators, climbers, sportsmen, and scholars who ventured into its interior beginning in the early 19th century. Gradually chipping away at the mysteries of Himalaya's fluid borders and disputed territories through the pursuit of trade routes and antiquities, Keay shows how these explorers laid the groundwork for the modern forces of commercialization and resource exploitation that threaten the region's natural and cultural heritage. From the plate tectonics that created Himalaya's mountain ranges to the influence of successive waves of Buddhist thought, the book's necessary broad scope covers such a diverse range of topics that none are afforded the depth of examination they are due. Yet by highlighting how much there is still to understand about Himalaya and its peoples, Keay has deftly underscored the dangers posed by development, conflict, and climate change. VERDICT An important work on an imperiled land, best suited to collections with an emphasis on geography, geology, or environmentalism.—Sara Shreve

Library Journal

2022-08-31
An exploration of the history and possible future of the Himalayas.

Since the 1960s, historian and journalist Keay has been traveling to and writing about the Himalayas. Now, in his 22nd book, he offers a panoramic overview of the history, archaeology, geology, politics, religions, and cultures of the storied mountain range, highlighting the individuals who have aspired to reach its peaks, visited its sacred sites, investigated its flora and fauna, and created its vivid mythology. Among an international cast of intrepid, sometimes eccentric characters are the German polar explorer Alfred Wegener, who theorized the idea of continental drift; the flamboyant Italian Giuseppe Vincenzo Tucci, whom Keay deems the greatest Tibetologist of the 20th century; linguists and folklorists David and Emily Lorimer; and opera diva and devout Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel, whose memoir My Journey to Lhasa (1927) “offers a wealth of fantasy, anecdote and domestic detail,” including “hallucinations, divinations, mystic encounters, feats of endurance, family disputes, miracles galore and some leaden humour.” The Himalayas are a vast, young range, notes Keay. Mount Everest grows a few centimeters per year, and the area is so seismically active that it experiences an earthquake every week. “Seen from afar,” writes the author, “with the snows of their dragon’s-back skyline snagging the clouds, they epitomise permanence and eternity; but geologically speaking they are neither permanent nor eternal.” Paleontologists have discovered remains of mastodon and hippopotamus, porcupine and rat, among species that could not have survived in the current climate. Culturally and politically, the region has undergone dramatic changes as well. Leay examines the fraught conflicts that have beset much of the region: Nepal, home to 129 languages, struggling “to assert a distinct identity”; Tibet, coveted by China; and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state in a Hindu-dominated Indian republic. Ecologically vulnerable, the region is in need of environmental safeguards—not least, against defilement from climbers’ trash. Pair this one with Ed Douglas’ Himalaya: A Human History.

A wide-ranging adventure into rugged terrain.

Kirkus Reviews