Environment, Modernization and Development in East Asia Perspectives from Environmental History

A fascinating buffet of chapters on East Asian environmental history, exploring, within Chinese and Japanese cultural contexts, the problem of how appropriately to link the multifaceted environment with the rest of history. Ts`ui-jung Liu and James Beattie have, as editors, done an impressively well-judged job of bringing together cultural depth with a critical awareness of current theoretical insights.' – Mark Elvin, St Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK

"This wide-ranging collaboration is packed with material that will intrigue, excite, and inform readers at all levels of scholarship. Those interested in East Asia, modernization, and long-term environmental change will find tremendous utility in the chapters assembled here." - Edward D. Melillo, Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Amherst College, USA

Ts'ui-jung Liu has worked at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, for more than 30 years and was elected an Academician in 1996. She retired in January 2014 and is currently an adjunct Research Fellow at the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. She has published three monographs and more than 70 articles related to economic history, population history, and environmental history.

James Beattie is Director of the Historical Research Unit at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, where he teaches imperial, environmental, garden, and world history. He has published three monographs, co-edited three books, and written over 50 articles and chapters on topics in imperial environmental history, history of science, garden history, and art history. He is Founding Editor of International Review of Environmental History.