Ranjan Chakrabarti - Climate Calamity and the Wild: an environmental history of the Bengal delta C 1747-1947- Primus Books: Delhi

I am happy to share the news that a paperback edition of my book on Climate Calamity and the Wild, Primus Books: Delhi, is forthcoming. Ian Rotherham's excellent review of the book in Environment and History has fostered the increasing international presence of the work. Take a look if you have time. Summary of the book : A central argument of the book is that the history of Bengal cannot be adequately understood through conventional political or ideological narratives alone. The distinctive ecology of the delta—its rivers, wetlands, forests, shifting channels and highly variable climate—created both opportunities and vulnerabilities for human communities. Changes in river courses and hydrological regimes altered settlements, agricultural landscapes, communication networks and patterns of production and trade. Climate variability, floods, cyclones, thunderstorms and other calamities repeatedly disrupted human lives and economic activity, while simultaneously contributing to the formation and transformation of landscapes.