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Himalaya : a human history / Ed Douglas.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2021]Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First American editionDescription: 581 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780393541991
  • 0393541991
Subject(s):
Contents:
Pilgrims -- Origins -- The First Explorers -- Lost Kingdoms -- The Architects of Xanadu -- The Rise of Gorkha -- The High Road to Tibet -- Trade Wars -- The Hard Road to Sagauli -- Mapping the Himalaya -- The Tyrant and the Scholar -- Crossing Borders -- 'Forbidden' City -- The Plant Hunters -- The First Mountaineers -- Everest Diplomacy -- Utopias -- Summit Fever -- Songs from a Dark Cell -- Claiming Chomolungma.
Summary: "A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world's highest mountains. For many years, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world's most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to an astonishing diversity of indigenous and local cultures, as well as a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for the world's superpowers. Here Jesuit missionaries exchanged technologies with Tibetan Lamas, Mongol Khans employed Nepali craftsmen, the East India Company grappled for dominance with China's emperors, and independent India confronts Mao's Communists and their successors. Spanning millennia, from its earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, and populated by a cast of colorful characters, Himalaya explores the history, culture, climate, geography, and politics of the Himalaya for a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world.""-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 954.96 D733 Available 33111010452528
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

For centuries, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world's most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to a diversity of indigenous and local cultures, a crucible of world religions, a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for empires past and present. In this landmark work, nearly two decades in the making, Ed Douglas makes a thrilling case for the Himalaya's importance in global history and offers a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world."

Spanning millennia, from the earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, Himalaya explores history, culture, climate, geography, and politics. Douglas profiles the great kings of Kathmandu and Nepal; he describes the architects who built the towering white Stupas that distinguish Himalayan architecture; and he traces the flourishing evolution of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism that brought Himalayan spirituality to the world. He also depicts with great drama the story of how the East India Company grappled for dominance with China's emperors, how India fought Mao's Communists, and how mass tourism and ecological transformation are obscuring the bloody legacy of the Cold War.

Himalaya is history written on the grandest yet also the most human scale--encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art, and bursting with stories of courage and resourcefulness.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 532-550) and index.

Pilgrims -- Origins -- The First Explorers -- Lost Kingdoms -- The Architects of Xanadu -- The Rise of Gorkha -- The High Road to Tibet -- Trade Wars -- The Hard Road to Sagauli -- Mapping the Himalaya -- The Tyrant and the Scholar -- Crossing Borders -- 'Forbidden' City -- The Plant Hunters -- The First Mountaineers -- Everest Diplomacy -- Utopias -- Summit Fever -- Songs from a Dark Cell -- Claiming Chomolungma.

"A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world's highest mountains. For many years, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world's most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to an astonishing diversity of indigenous and local cultures, as well as a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for the world's superpowers. Here Jesuit missionaries exchanged technologies with Tibetan Lamas, Mongol Khans employed Nepali craftsmen, the East India Company grappled for dominance with China's emperors, and independent India confronts Mao's Communists and their successors. Spanning millennia, from its earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, and populated by a cast of colorful characters, Himalaya explores the history, culture, climate, geography, and politics of the Himalaya for a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world.""-- Provided by publisher.

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