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Marginlands : Indian Landscapes on the Brink by Arati Kumar-Rao (2025, Hardcover)

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—Robert Macfarlane. Engaging and urgent, infused with wonder and profound empathy, this is a work of love and hope, inspiring readers across the world to preserve and protect the world around us. Praise for Marginlands.

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Product Identifiers

PublisherMilkweed Editions

ISBN-101571315985

ISBN-139781571315984

eBay Product ID (ePID)16067056334

Product Key Features

Book TitleMarginlands : Indian Landscapes on the Brink

Number of Pages280 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2025

TopicEnvironmental Science (See Also Chemistry / Environmental), Environmental Conservation & Protection, Ecosystems & Habitats / General, Asia / India & South Asia

IllustratorKumar-Rao, Arati

GenreNature, Travel, Science

AuthorArati Kumar-Rao

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight16.9 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2024-034685

Dewey Edition23/eng/20240417

ReviewsPraise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews "Kumar-Rao chronicles her journey into some of India's most remarkable -- and threatened -- terrains." -- Los Angeles Daily News " National Geographic journalist Kumar-Rao debuts with an exhilarating and sumptuous account of India's imperiled natural environments and the disappearing traditions of their inhabitants. [. . .] Combining an infectious awe at the resilience and power of the natural world with bracing reportage on environmental devastation, this enthralls." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review " Marginlands offers a vivid, inspiring call to protect India's ecological riches highlighting both the challenges and hope that lie ahead." -- Adventure Journal "This book is a beautifully written, evocative journey through India's coastlines, rivers, glaciers, deserts, and cities." -- Foreign Affairs Magazine " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews "Kumar-Rao chronicles her journey into some of India's most remarkable -- and threatened -- terrains." -- Los Angeles Daily News " National Geographic journalist Kumar-Rao debuts with an exhilarating and sumptuous account of India's imperiled natural environments and the disappearing traditions of their inhabitants. [. . .] Combining an infectious awe at the resilience and power of the natural world with bracing reportage on environmental devastation, this enthralls." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews "Kumar-Rao chronicles her journey into some of India's most remarkable -- and threatened -- terrains." -- Los Angeles Daily News " National Geographic journalist Kumar-Rao debuts with an exhilarating and sumptuous account of India's imperiled natural environments and the disappearing traditions of their inhabitants. [. . .] Combining an infectious awe at the resilience and power of the natural world with bracing reportage on environmental devastation, this enthralls." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review " Marginlands offers a vivid, inspiring call to protect India's ecological riches highlighting both the challenges and hope that lie ahead." -- Adventure Journal " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews " National Geographic journalist Kumar-Rao debuts with an exhilarating and sumptuous account of India's imperiled natural environments and the disappearing traditions of their inhabitants. [. . .] Combining an infectious awe at the resilience and power of the natural world with bracing reportage on environmental devastation, this enthralls." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review "Kumar-Rao chronicles her journey into some of India's most remarkable -- and threatened -- terrains." -- Los Angeles Daily News " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves ( Intertidal ) and Neha Sinha ( Wild and Wilful ), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now."-- Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time."-- Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains."-- Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious."-- Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, Praise for Marginlands "A heartfelt, observant chronicle of India's wilderness." -- Kirkus Reviews "Kumar-Rao chronicles her journey into some of India's most remarkable -- and threatened -- terrains." -- Los Angeles Daily News " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants (human and more-than-human), which takes its readers from the high Himalayas to the Sundarban delta, from the deserts of the Thar to the climate-change-ravaged Keralan coastline and beyond. Born of hard, committed, long-term first-hand witnessing of places and people, it is written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force. Kumar-Rao's book joins new voices, including Yuvan Aves (Intertidal) and Neha Sinha (Wild and Wilful), proving that a powerful, hopeful resurgence of Indian nature writing is happening right now." --Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland: A Deep Time Journey "Arati Kumar-Rao writes with grace and empathy about traditional forms of resilience and how they help ordinary people survive, and even flourish, in the most demanding environments--and about the often devastating impacts of clumsy interventions by the state. This is some of the best environmental writing I have read in a long time." --Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable "Our grandchildren will be reading Arati Kumar-Rao to understand the momentous decisions that our generation faced--and, shamefully, more often than not shirked--in valuing and safeguarding the last dazzling but imperiled ecological riches of the Indian subcontinent. Luminously written with slashing honesty and profound empathy, Kumar-Rao gifts us with a traveler's haunting account of the vast stakes involved in India's environmental emergencies, as well as moving homages to the keepers of traditional systems of knowledge who, if we only listened to them as carefully as she does, could help rescue what remains." --Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer "From startling images and evocative prose to brilliant sketches, what a glittering array of tools Arati Kumar-Rao has in her quiver! She is going to make a lot of people exceedingly envious." --Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide "Arati Kumar-Rao has written a book from the heart, infused with her poetic voice and humanistic soul, on topics she has explored for many years. Drawing on her multiple talents of writing, photography and sketching, Kumar-Rao has documented pressing issues affecting India while making much deeper connections with the relationship of humans to their resources, lands, and the wildlife they must coexist with. A monumental lesson for all of humanity to pay attention to so that we might redirect our course to a better, more sustainable future, this book is a work for the ages." --Ed Kashi, author of Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta

Dewey Decimal333.70954

Table Of ContentPrologue: Gathering String 1 Part I: The Desert A Liquid Memory 17 The Landscape of Loss 32 Part II: Veins of Our Land In the Shifting Embrace of the Ganga 49 A Fleeting Flash of Fin 76 Hunting with Dolphins 90 Fading to Black 99 Part III: An Eroding Margin On the Brink of Brine 115 Jewels by the Sea 128 Eating up the Coast 139 The Tiger's Lair 152 Part IV: The Third Pole When the Glaciers Disappear 167 A Coup on the Roof of the World 178 Into the Hidden Land 189 Part V: The Sound of Cities Where the Wild Things Still Are 205 Listening to Landscapes 219 Epilogue: Learning to See 231 Glossary of Local Words 240 Notes 246 Gratitude 252

SynopsisCelebrated National Geographic Explorer Arati Kumar-Rao blends enthralling nature writing, journalism, immersive art, and photography to create a vivid and urgent portrait of India's diverse ecological wonders, teetering on the edge. In Marginlands , Arati Kumar-Rao invites readers on an immersive and revealing journey through her homeland's diverse regions, ecosystems, and communities--both human and wild--that have defined India and are now threated by industry and urbanization. From the shifting sand of the Thar desert to the floodplains of Assam, from the Goa coast to dense forests of Arunachal Pradesh, to the shores of Kerala, the artificial glaciers of Ladakh in the Himalayas, and the sandbar islands in the river Ganga, Kumar-Rao reveals both natural wonder and our reckless blunders. There are wolves, dolphins, tigers, bees, black-necked cranes, crocodiles, and countless fish and fauna that reside in these varied ecosystems, and Rao shares their stories along with those of the human inhabitants--shepherds, fishermen, and farmers--whose lives and livelihood are dependent on the health of these sacred and life-sustaining landscapes. But as mining, commercial fishing, industry, the damming of rivers, and commerce expand at a breakneck pace, will the health and beauty that have defined these places survive? Can nature--with human ingenuity, compassion, and commitment--heal and ultimately persevere? With deep empathy, sweeping lyricism, and unmatched attentiveness, Kumar-Rao celebrates the overlooked, the unseen, and the anything-but-ordinary of the natural world and the need to advocate for its preservation. Urgent and inspiring, Marginlands encourages readers to honor interconnectedness everywhere., Celebrated National Geographic Explorer Arati Kumar-Rao blends enthralling nature writing, journalism, immersive art, and photography to create a vivid and urgent portrait of India's diverse ecological wonders, teetering on the edge. In Marginlands , Arati Kumar-Rao invites readers on an immersive and revealing journey through her homeland's diverse regions, ecosystems, and communities--both human and wild--that have defined India and are now threated by industry and urbanization.From the shifting sand of the Thar desert to the floodplains of Assam, from the Goa coast to dense forests of Arunachal Pradesh, to the shores of Kerala, the artificial glaciers of Ladakh in the Himalayas, and the sandbar islands in the river Ganga, Kumar-Rao reveals both natural wonder and our reckless blunders. There are wolves, dolphins, tigers, bees, black-necked cranes, crocodiles, and countless fish and fauna that reside in these varied ecosystems, and Rao shares their stories along with those of the human inhabitants--shepherds, fishermen, and farmers--whose lives and livelihood are dependent on the health of these sacred and life-sustaining landscapes. But as mining, commercial fishing, industry, the damming of rivers, and commerce expand at a breakneck pace, will the health and beauty that have defined these places survive? Can nature--with human ingenuity, compassion, and commitment--heal and ultimately persevere?With deep empathy, sweeping lyricism, and unmatched attentiveness, Kumar-Rao celebrates the overlooked, the unseen, and the anything-but-ordinary of the natural world and the need to advocate for its preservation. Urgent and inspiring, Marginlands encourages readers to honor interconnectedness everywhere., " Marginlands is a tour de force, a magnificent first book about India's marginalized landscapes and inhabitants, written with compassion, compressed elegance of observation, and urgent political force."--Robert Macfarlane As a child growing up in Mumbai, Arati Kumar-Rao's parents instilled in her an abiding love for the natural world and a passion for storytelling. Years later, adrift in a corporate job and concerned by the unbridled development of her country, she asked herself, "When will you stop doing what you can do and start doing what you really want to do?" Animated by an instinctive sense that our fate is bound to that of the earth and the more-than-human world, Kumar-Rao sets out on a journey across India, listening along the way to stories the land and its people share with her. In the Thar Desert, often reduced to the value of extractable commodities, she learns about ancient methods of harvesting rainwater from shepherds with deep ancestral memories. In the delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers at the Bay of Bengal, she walks ancient shorelines and mangrove forests with a marine biologist, exploring tidepools and learning of the extent to which this astonishingly diverse ecology is increasingly endangered by commercial trawlers and overfishing. And on India's northernmost plateau, surrounded by the Himalaya and home to snow leopards, ibex, and numerous endangered species of eagles and owls, she finds glaciers disappearing at an alarming rate and meets with inhabitants who play little role in creating climate change but now bear the brunt of it. Richly illustrated with the author's photographs and drawings, Marginlands is a vibrant and compelling account of the changes reshaping India today. Engaging and urgent, infused with wonder and profound empathy, this is a work of love and hope, inspiring readers across the world to preserve and protect the world around us.

LC Classification NumberGE160.I4K865 2025