Braided Waters sheds new light on the relationship between environment and society by charting the history of Hawaii’s Molokai island over a thousand-year period of repeated settlement. From the arrival of the first Polynesians to contact with eighteenth-century European explorers and traders to our present era, this study shows how the control of resources—especially water—in a fragile, highly variable environment has had profound effects on the history of Hawaii. Wade Graham examines the ways environmental variation repeatedly shapes human social and economic structures and how, in turn, man-made environmental degradation influences and reshapes societies. A key finding of this study is how deep structures of place interact with distinct cultural patterns across different societies to produce similar social and environmental outcomes, in both the Polynesian and modern eras—a case of historical isomorphism with profound implications for global environmental history.

Fossilized dinosaur bones. Caribou tracks, both ancient and new. Wide open spaces. Vast migrations... The National Petroleum Reserve -- Alaska is more than a natural resource -- it's a place of rare, unprotected beauty * Full color conservation advocacy book features essays from Arctic authorities such as Bruce Babbitt, Jack Horner, Jeff Fair, and more. * Published in collaboration with the Alaska Wilderness League Originally set aside by President Harding in 1923 as a back-up resource for military fuel needs, the National Petroleum Reserve -- Alaska is home to half a million migrating caribou, countless migrating birds from all over the world, and, surprisingly, one of the largest Polar dinosaur fossil beds in the Arctic. The Reserve is also the largest piece of undisturbed public land in the United States -- yet few outside of Alaska have ever heard of it. On Arctic Ground, from Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, features a series of vignettes written by well-loved Alaskan author Debbie S. Miller (Midnight Wilderness) about the astonishing array of wildlife she has encountered over many seasons exploring the Reserve. Additionally, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt writes the book's preface, drawing on his years of experience managing both the economic and biological resources of the Reserve. Miller's vignettes are accompanied by images from an array of award-winning conservation photographers. The book also features essays and insight from Alaskan writers and science authorities -- including wildlife biologist Jeff Fair and senior Audubon Alaska scientist John Schoen -- as well as an essay and audio download by noted Alaska writer and soundscape artist Richard Nelson. Paleontologists Jack Horner and Patrick Druckenmiller share the most recent research and remarkable discoveries associated with dinosaur studies in the Alaskan Arctic. This book will serve as a platform to bring greater public awareness to the opportunities for permanently preserving the significant biological areas and wildlife that thrive within the Reserve. Braided River will collaborate with the Alaska Wilderness League to bring this story to members of Congress, the media, and the general public. Visit www.braidedriver.org to learn more.

The history--and future--of one of the sea's greatest mammals

The Brahmaputra is by some margin the largest river in India. After its confluence with the Ganga in Bangladesh, it becomes the largest in Asia. In The Braided River, journalist Samrat Choudhury sets out to follow its braided course from the edge of Tibet where it enters India down to where it meets the Ganga at a spot marked by the biggest red light district in Bangladesh. Along the way, he meets suspicious Indian spies, gets packed off on the back of a cement truck by soldiers, visit a shelter home for baby rhino and elephant orphans in Kaziranga, and hops from river island to riverside town meeting the locals. The tales of these encounters spice up a story that weaves in the history of the emergence of the border between India and China in Arunachal Pradesh, the formation of the Assamese identity -- a matter of great contemporary relevance owing to the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act -- and the ecological challenges posed by proposed dams. This is a genre-bending book that touches upon several hot-button issues -- environmental, military and political -- as it blends travel, memoir and history with the present.

Puget Sound is a magnificent and intricate estuary, the very core of life in Western Washington. Yet it's also a place of broader significance: rivers rush from the Cascade and Olympic mountains and Canada's coastal ranges through varied watersheds to feed the Sound, which forms the southern portion of a complex, international ecosystem known as the Salish Sea. A rich, life-sustaining home shared by two countries, as well as 50-plus Native American Tribes and First Nations, the Salish Sea is also a huge economic engine, with outdoor recreation and commercial shellfish harvesting alone worth $10.2 billion. But this spectacular inland sea is suffering. Pollution and habitat loss, human population growth, ocean acidification, climate change, and toxins from wastewater and storm runoff present formidable challenges. We Are Puget Sound amplifies the voices and ideas behind saving Puget Sound, and it will help engage and inspire citizens around the region to join together to preserve its ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on it.

In a compelling mix of literary narrative and ethnography, anthropologist Alma Gottlieb and writer Philip Graham continue the long journey of cultural engagement with the Beng people of Côte d’Ivoire that they first recounted in their award-winning memoir Parallel Worlds. Their commitment over the span of several decades has lent them a rare insight. Braiding their own stories with those of the villagers of Asagbé and Kosangbé, Gottlieb and Graham take turns recounting a host of unexpected dramas with these West African villages, prompting serious questions about the fraught nature of cultural contact. Through events such as a religious leader’s declaration that the authors’ six-year-old son, Nathaniel, is the reincarnation of a revered ancestor, or Graham’s late father being accepted into the Beng afterlife, or the increasing, sometimes dangerous madness of a villager, the authors are forced to reconcile their anthropological and literary gaze with the deepest parts of their personal lives. Along with these intimate dramas, they follow the Beng from times of peace through the times of tragedy that led to Côte d’Ivoire’s recent civil conflicts. From these and many other interweaving narratives—and with the combined strengths of an anthropologist and a literary writer—Braided Worlds examines the impact of postcolonialism, race, and global inequity at the same time that it chronicles a living, breathing village community where two very different worlds meet.

Photographic documentation of the necessity to preserve this precious area.

Obi Kaufmann, author of the best-selling California Field Atlas, turns his artful yet analytical attention to the Golden State's single most complex and controversial resource: water. In this new book, full-color maps unravel the braided knot of California's water infrastructure and ecosystems, exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of finite natural resources--a history that has led to its current precarious circumstances. Yet this built world depends upon the biosphere, and in The State of Water Kaufmann argues that environmental conservation and restoration efforts are necessary not only for ethical reasons but also as a matter of human survival. Offering nine perspectives to illustrate the most pressing challenges facing California's water infrastructure, from dams to species revitalization, Kaufmann reveals pragmatic yet inspiring solutions to how water in the West can continue to support agriculture, municipalities, and the environment. Interspersed throughout with trail paintings of animals that might yet survive under a caring and careful water ethic, Kaufmann shows how California can usher in a new era of responsible water conservation, and--perhaps most importantly--how we may do so together.

Two hundred color images celebrating the birds that journey to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge each year are accompanied by essays by noted biologists and conservationists.