Description: FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE Quagmire by David Andrew Biggs, William Cronon By exploring the delta as a quagmire in both natural and political terms, Biggs shows how engineered transformations of the Mekong Delta landscape-channelized rivers, a complex canal system, hydropower development, deforestation-have interacted with equally complex transformations in the geopolitics of the region. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Winner of the 2012 George Perkins Marsh Prize for Best Book in Environmental HistoryIn the twentieth century, the Mekong Delta has emerged as one of Vietnams most important economic regions. Its swamps, marshes, creeks, and canals have played a major role in Vietnams turbulent past, from the struggles of colonialism to the Cold War and the present day. Quagmire considers these struggles, their antecedents, and their legacies through the lens of environmental history.Beginning with the French conquest in the 1860s, colonial reclamation schemes and pacification efforts centered on the development of a dense network of new canals to open land for agriculture. These projects helped precipitate economic and environmental crises in the 1930s, and subsequent struggles after 1945 led to the balkanization of the delta into a patchwork of regions controlled by the Viet Minh, paramilitary religious sects, and the struggling Franco-Vietnamese government. After 1954, new settlements were built with American funds and equipment in a crash program intended to solve continuing economic and environmental problems. Finally, the American military collapse in Vietnam is revealed as not simply a failure of policy makers but also a failure to understand the historical, political, and environmental complexity of the spaces American troops attempted to occupy and control.By exploring the delta as a quagmire in both natural and political terms, Biggs shows how engineered transformations of the Mekong Delta landscape - channelized rivers, a complex canal system, hydropower development, deforestation - have interacted with equally complex transformations in the geopolitics of the region. Quagmire delves beyond common stereotypes to present an intricate, rich history that shows how closely political and ecological issues are intertwined in the human interactions with the water environment in the Mekong Delta.Watch the book trailer: #p/u/2/gp1-UItZqsk Notes By exploring the delta as a quagmire in both natural and political terms, Biggs shows how engineered transformations of the Mekong Delta landscape-channelized rivers, a complex canal system, hydropower development, deforestation-have interacted with equally complex transformations in the geopolitics of the region. Flap By exploring the delta as a quagmire in both natural and political terms, Biggs shows how engineered transformations of the Mekong Delta landscapechannelized rivers, a complex canal system, hydropower development, deforestationhave interacted with equally complex transformations in the geopolitics of the region. Quagmire delves beyond common stereotypes to present an intricate, rich history that shows how closely political and ecological issues are intertwined in the human interactions with the water environment in the Mekong Delta. Author Biography David Biggs is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Riverside. Table of Contents Foreword: Nation-Making in the Mekong Mire by William Cronon Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Waters Edge 2. Water Grid 3. Hydroagricultural Crisis4. Balkanization 5. Modernization6. American War Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index Review "No one before Biggs has focused so intensely on the landscapes and waterscapes in which the Vietnam War was fought and their relationship to the complex colonial history of transformation that had been occurring for the century prior to the conflict."-William Cronon "This brilliantly researched book explains the part that the environment has played in several colonial schemes in the Mekong Delta and in Americas most tragic war there, and how the environmental history of the Mekong Delta has been part of the process of nation-building in Vietnam."-Mart Stewart, Western Washington University "The delta, as natural and as it has been transformed throughout the past two hundred years or so, has played a decisive role in the successes (not many) and the failures (a lot of them) of colonial and post-colonial regimes, of the American war efforts, and of modernization and development. Biggs focus on the muddied delta and its quagmire characteristics that shaped every economic, agriculture, and political project is among the first of its kind on this subject. He did it quite well."-Thongchai Winichakul, University of Wisconsin-Madison "Quagmire... offers a neat and fresh storyline, explaining that nation-builders failed to understand the serpentine watercourses and landscapes of the Mekong Delta... Biggs, an environmentalist historian at the University of California in Riverside, is not a revisionist, nor does his approach conveniently fall into any other clique. Quagmire rather brings forward some of the latest thinking on Vietnamese history... Biggs shines a light on the everyday struggles of farmers and migrants not seen since David Elliotts 1500-page chronicle, The Vietnamese War, and Jeffrey Races classic doctoral dissertation, War Comes to Long An." - Asian Affairs Promotional By exploring the delta as a quagmire in both natural and political terms, Biggs shows how engineered transformations of the Mekong Delta landscape-channelized rivers, a complex canal system, hydropower development, deforestation-have interacted with equally complex transformations in the geopolitics of the region. Review Quote "No one before Biggs has focused so intensely on the landscapes and waterscapes in which the Vietnam War was fought and their relationship to the complex colonial history of transformation that had been occurring for the century prior to the conflict."-William Cronon"This brilliantly researched book explains the part that the environment has played in several colonial schemes in the Mekong Delta and in Americas most tragic war there, and how the environmental history of the Mekong Delta has been part of the process of nation-building in Vietnam."-Mart Stewart, Western Washington University"The delta, as natural and as it has been transformed throughout the past two hundred years or so, has played a decisive role in the successes (not many) and the failures (a lot of them) of colonial and post-colonial regimes, of the American war efforts, and of modernization and development. Biggs focus on the muddied delta and its quagmire characteristics that shaped every economic, agriculture, and political project is among the first of its kind on this subject. He did it quite well."-Thongchai Winichakul, University of Wisconsin-Madison Promotional "Headline" Quagmire delves beyond common stereotypes to present an intricate, rich history that shows how closely political and ecological issues are intertwined in the human interactions with the water environment in the Mekong Delta Details ISBN0295990678 Short Title QUAGMIRE Publisher University of Washington Press Language English ISBN-10 0295990678 ISBN-13 9780295990675 Media Book Format Hardcover Year 2011 Imprint University of Washington Press Country of Publication United States DEWEY 959.78 Publication Date 2011-02-01 Subtitle Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta Place of Publication Seattle UK Release Date 2011-02-01 AU Release Date 2011-02-01 NZ Release Date 2011-02-01 US Release Date 2011-02-01 Illustrations 32 illus. Author William Cronon Pages 320 Series Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Alternative 9780295991993 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! 30 DAY RETURN POLICY No questions asked, 30 day returns! FREE DELIVERY No matter where you are in the UK, delivery is free. SECURE PAYMENT Peace of mind by paying through PayPal and eBay Buyer Protection TheNile_Item_ID:137256365;
Price: 132.1 GBP
Location: Ohio
End Time: 2025-01-04T08:15:16.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 30 days
Return policy details:
ISBN-13: 9780295990675
Book Title: Quagmire
ISBN: 9780295990675
Number of Pages: 320 Pages
Language: English
Publication Name: Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication Year: 2011
Subject: Business
Item Height: 229 mm
Item Weight: 567 g
Type: Textbook
Author: David Andrew Biggs
Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
Item Width: 152 mm
Format: Hardcover
