The Himalaya

“Zurick provides a rich, if understated, course on the geology, history, and politics of the Himalaya region. Each chapter moves effortlessly between the journal-like immediacy of the author’s experiences and the background framing—whether ecological or cultural—that locates it. Even better, Zurick moves beyond description to raise issues of a more philosophical sort: the preconceptions of the research process and its transformation by experience, the politics of commodification and tourism among indigenous people, and alternative possibilities of ‘development.’ Throughout the book is the consistent exploration of change and the anchoring of that exploration in the researcher’s experience and reappraisals. Zurick’s credentials as a scholar are rock-solid. His thirty-five years of experience in the region, as a traveler and scholar, gives weight to his writing and thinking.”