{"product_id":"in-praise-of-floods-james-c-scott-9780300278491","title":"In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings","description":"\u003cb\u003eJames C. Scott reframes rivers as alive and dynamic, revealing the consequences of treating them as resources for our profit\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Rivers, on a long view, are alive. They are born; they change and shift their channels; they forge new routes to the sea; they move both gradually and violently; they can teem (usually) with life; they may die a quasi-natural death; they are frequently maimed and even murdered. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e It is the annual flood-pulse--the brief time when the river occupies the floodplain--that gives a river its vitality, but it is human engineering that kills it, suppressing the flood-pulse with dams, irrigation, siltation, dikes and levees. In demonstrating these threats to the riverine world, award-winning author James C. Scott examines the life history of a particular river, the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) of Burma, the heartland and superhighway of Burman culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Scott opens our understanding of rivers to encompass their entirety--tributaries, wetlands, floodplains, backwaters, eddies, periodic marshlands, and the assemblage of life forms dependent on rivers for their existence and well-being. For anyone interested in the Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration, rivers offer a striking example of the consequences of human intervention in trying to control and domesticate a natural process, the complexity and variability of which we barely understand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James C. Scott\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0300278497\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300278491\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/25\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"James C. Scott","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46233204261119,"sku":"9780300278491","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_dcf11cce-a1e2-4a8a-ad75-118d8b9cd53e.jpg?v=1728992360","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/in-praise-of-floods-james-c-scott-9780300278491","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}