Unruly Waters: How Rains, Rivers, Coasts, and Seas Have Shaped Asia's History

by Sunil S. Amrith

Overview

From a MacArthur "Genius," a bold new perspective on the history of Asia, highlighting the long quest to tame its waters

Asia's history has been shaped by her waters. In Unruly Waters, historian Sunil Amrith reimagines Asia's history through the stories of its rains, rivers, coasts, and seas -- and of the weather-watchers and engineers, mapmakers and farmers who have sought to control them. Looking out from India, he shows how dreams and fears of water shaped visions of political independence and economic development, provoked efforts to reshape nature through dams and pumps, and unleashed powerful tensions within and between nations.

Today, Asian nations are racing to construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas, with dire environmental impacts; hundreds of millions crowd into coastal cities threatened by cyclones and storm surges. In an age of climate change, Unruly Waters is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Asia's past and its future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465097739
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	12/11/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	35 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sunil Amrith is the Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History at Harvard University and a 2017 MacArthur Fellow. The prize-winning author of Crossing the Bay of Bengal, as well as several other books and articles, he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What People are Saying About This

Author of A River Runs Again - Meera Subramanian

"Across Asia, water is power. Sunil Amrith's Unruly Waters is a gripping work, both timely and necessary, that captures the forces at work in the struggle to control Asia's water. From cultural influences of colonial empire engineering to atmospheric chemistry in a time of climate change, Amrith reveals all that is at stake for half the planet's population.”

Editorial Reviews

12/01/2018

Rather than putting the political machinations of the ruling elite as the driving force of history, Amrith (history, Harvard Univ.; Crossing the Bay of Bengal) offers a view of history in which human efforts to control nature propels progress and establishes a government's legitimacy. Specifically, the control of water via dams, canals, and more that opened up new regions to cultivation resulting in dramatic population growth. The bulk of this work focuses on the history of India in the 19th and 20th centuries, while other Asian countries receive significantly less coverage. A real strength of the narrative is the explanation of how events in India had ripple effects throughout Asia and beyond. For example, in the 1870s, the lack of monsoon rains caused a devastating famine in India. Consequently, the colonial government initiated meteorological investigations to understand monsoons, which led to an increasing awareness of global weather patterns. VERDICT An enjoyable read for those interested in modern Asian history, and an essential text for Indian history enthusiasts. See also Philip Ball's The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China.—Joshua Wallace, Tarleton State Univ. Lib. Stephenville, TX

Library Journal

"A compelling history of India over the last 200 years mostly describing how its people and rulers have dealt with the weather. "—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"When confronted with tragedy, the modernist project has always retreated behind the sober voice of science. There is no more vivid description of this encounter than Sunil Amrith's wonderful new book, nor a better example of combining sympathy for the main protagonists—the planners, the engineers, the meteorologists—with a sustained sense of how, with the best of intentions, things can go horribly wrong."—Abhijit V. Banerjee, coauthor of Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

"In this groundbreaking work, Sunil Amrith deftly and imaginatively steers us towards an understanding of both water's worldly historical importance and its sublime capacity to exceed the human scale. Between its haunting opening pages and chilling epilogue, Amrith's sensitive, deeply engaging, and densely woven narrative reminds us that the present water crisis is the legacy of a colonial past—not of the peculiarities of Asian people and climate. This is a politically urgent book that shows the need to tell more expansive histories to help us address climate risks that transcend national borders."—Priya Satia, author of Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution

"Across Asia, water is power. Sunil Amrith's Unruly Waters is a gripping work, both timely and necessary, that captures the forces at work in the struggle to control Asia's water. From cultural influences of colonial empire engineering to atmospheric chemistry in a time of climate change, Amrith reveals all that is at stake for half the planet's population."—Meera Subramanian, author of A River Runs Again

From the Publisher

★ 2018-09-25

A compelling history of India over the last 200 years mostly describing how its people and rulers have dealt with the weather.

Amrith (History and South Asian Studies/Harvard Univ.; Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants, 2013, etc.), a MacArthur fellow, reminds readers that India contains great rivers and a famous monsoon, but these deliver only 4 percent of the world's fresh water to 14 percent of its population. He also reminds us that Britain ruled India to make money; even the cost of government and military operations came from Indian taxpayers. Agricultural products, the source of most of this wealth, depended heavily on monsoon rains; when they diminished, famines occurred and tax collections dropped. Documented since ancient times, famines probably became more severe with population growth in the 19th century and the effect of British rule. Most people believed that modern technology would fix matters. Amrith mines British and Indian archives to produce a lively history whose heroes, mostly obscure, developed modern meteorology and built railroads, irrigation projects, canals, and especially dams. "Dams were the single largest form of public investment in modern India," writes the author, "swallowing considerably more government expenditure than health care or education….More than any other technology, they promised a mastery of nature." Major famines as late as 1943 only reinforced this policy. Nationalists were also believers, and following independence, there was a greater push for more projects. The author documents innumerable missteps and suffering but admits that it worked. Many Indians still go hungry, but food production has vastly increased. Still, Amrith doesn't avoid the bad news about the future. Global warming is melting Himalayan snows that feed Asian rivers and worsening the weather, and India is already quarreling with neighboring nations when their actions threaten to divert river water.

Despite largely ignoring politics, war, and culture, Amrith's thought-provoking history makes a fascinating case that water is equally important, perhaps more so.

Kirkus Reviews