The Retreat of the Elephants

An Environmental History of China

Recommended by Isabel Hilton, and 1 others. See all reviews

Ranked #58 in China History, Ranked #98 in Chinese History

A landmark account of China’s environmental history—by an internationally pre-eminent China specialist


This is the first environmental history of China during the three thousand years for which there are written records. It is also a treasure trove of literary, political, aesthetic, scientific, and religious sources, which allow the reader direct access to the views and feelings of the Chinese people toward their environment and their landscape.
Elvin chronicles the spread of the Chinese style of farming that eliminated the habitat of the elephants that...
more

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Retreat of the Elephants from the world's leading experts.

Isabel Hilton Mao believed the theories of Lysenko: that man is in charge of nature; that nature is there to be exploited and that anything at all can be achieved with the right political attitude and a scientific approach. Well, they called it a ‘scientific’ approach, but actually it was very bad science indeed. Lysenko’s theories produced probably the worst famine in human history. In China, between the late 50s and early 60s, between 30 and 80 million people starved to death. (Source)


Similar Books

If you like The Retreat of the Elephants, check out these similar top-rated books:


Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?