xliv, 377 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates :illustrations (some colour), maps ;25 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Prologue --An orogenous zone --War of the plates --A domain of animals --When men and monkeys meet --Of flowers and towers --Scholar, explorer, writer, pilgrim --Pilgrims' progress --The Karakoram anomaly --Sublime deliverance --Swede and swami --Sages and heroes --Gold dust and yak tails --Shawl wars --Mountains of destiny --Epilogue.
More rugged and elevated than any other zone on earth, Himālaya embraces all of Tibet, plus six of the world's eight major mountain ranges and nearly all its highest peaks. Thirty-five percent of the global population depend on Himālaya's freshwater for crop irrigation, protein, and, increasingly, hydropower. It now sits seismically unstable, as tectonic plates consider to shift and the region remains gridlocked in a global debate surrounding climate change. Keay shows that, without our commitment to an ethos of respect for it confounding, fascinating features, Himālaya will soon cease to exist.
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