Overview

'John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes' Dan Snow 'Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is' Michael Palin History has not been kind to Himalaya. Empires have collided here, cultures have clashed. Buddhist India claimed it from the south, Islam put down roots in its western approaches, Mongols and Manchus rode in from the north, and, from the east, China continues to absorb what it prefers not to call Tibet. Hunters have decimated its wildlife and mountaineers have bagged its peaks. Today, machinery gouges minerals out of its rock. Roughly the size of Europe, the region is one of the most seismically active on the planet. Summers bring avalanches, rainfall triggers landslides and winters obliterate trails. Glaciers retreat, rivers change course and whole lakes quietly evaporate. To some, Himalaya is an otherworldly realm, profoundly life-changing, yet forbidding and forbidden. It has mesmerised scholars and mystics, sportsmen and spies, pilgrims and mapmakers who have mingled with the farmers and traders on the ‘Roof of the World’. Himalaya is the story of one of the last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and improbable achievements of its pioneers. Ranging from botany to trade, from the Great Game to today’s geopolitics, John Keay draws on a lifetime of exploration and study to enlighten and delight with this lively biography of a region in crisis.

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9781408891148

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Reviews

Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is. -- Michael Palin John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes -- Dan Snow From palaeontology to mysticism, from the East India Company to mountaineers, this is dazzlingly wide-ranging, brilliantly researched and elegantly told -- Ranulph Fiennes The guru of modern writers on Himalaya. Here, after a lifetime's travel and reflection, is the story of the most important region on earth -- Michael Wood Let John Keay be your guide: he has decades of first-hand experience in the region, he wears his extensive learning lightly and he is a magnificent storyteller -- Chris Bonington A dazzling collision of storytelling and scholarship, and the culmination of a lifetime's research and experience, this is surely John Keay's masterwork. He tackles the epic subject of the entire Himalayan region, through human history, and brings to it his own distinctive style - at once authoritative and colourful, stirring and droll, ambitious yet humble. A compelling portrait of a uniquely vulnerable region -- James McConnaghie The appropriate crown for John Keay's writing on Asia. His study of the Himalaya marks the grand finale to his prodigious twin histories of India and China. Roll over Edward Gibbon. The powerful reimagining of the Himalaya from the structural perspective adds to the mountaineering and mythological lore, while the magisterial style is lightened by marvellous one liners... One of the best and easily the most informed books on the Himalaya -- Bill Aitken, author of Seven Sacred Rivers John Keay's stunning book is meticulously researched and a gripping read. It lays out the long-standing allure of Himalaya, from the geographical and environmental to the archaeological and cultural. -- Kavita Puri

Praise for India: 'A delight ... One of the best general studies of the subcontinent * Sunday Times * Ambitious, colourful and fascinating -- Lawrence James * The Times * 'Certainly the most balanced and lucid history ... His passion for India shines through and illuminates every page ... puts Keay in the front rank of Indian historiographers * Spectator * A book that is as fluent and readable as it is up-to-date and impartial. Hardly a page passes without some fascinating nugget or surprising fact * Guardian *

Wonderful ... In prose that feels as effortless as it is entertaining, Keay paints a quite fascinating picture of this magical region, covering everything from geology, glaciers, tectonic plates and botany to the spiritual and religious evolutions of humans -- C P W Gammell * Literary Review * There cannot be any current anglophone writer more knowledgeable about the region. -- Jonathan Buckley * Times Literary Supplement * Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is -- Michael Palin Excellent -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post * John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes -- Dan Snow From palaeontology to mysticism, from the East India Company to mountaineers, this is dazzlingly wide-ranging, brilliantly researched and elegantly told -- Ranulph Fiennes The guru of modern writers on Himalaya. Here, after a lifetime's travel and reflection, is the story of the most important region on earth -- Michael Wood A dazzling collision of storytelling and scholarship, and the culmination of a lifetime's research and experience, this is surely John Keay's masterwork. He tackles the epic subject of the entire Himalayan region, through human history, and brings to it his own distinctive style - at once authoritative and colourful, stirring and droll, ambitious yet humble. A compelling portrait of a uniquely vulnerable region -- James McConnachie Let John Keay be your guide: he has decades of first-hand experience in the region, he wears his extensive learning lightly and he is a magnificent storyteller -- Chris Bonington John Keay's stunning book is meticulously researched and a gripping read. It lays out the long-standing allure of Himalaya, from the geographical and environmental to the archaeological and cultural. -- Kavita Puri A compendium of centuries of outsiders' quests for scientific understanding of every aspect of the Himalayas - from its geology, topography and natural history to questions of anthropology and social history. No potential angle is left unexplored -- Amy Kazmin * Financial Times * The term 'tour de force' doesn't do Keay's Himalaya justice. A beautiful work by one of the world's foremost historians, the book is meticulously researched and written with Keay's particular flair. Comparable in its page-turning addiction to a fictional thriller, this will go down as a seminal work on the Himalaya. -- Kenton Cool Poetically written ... A wonderfully digressive read, with rich portraits and stories of those who made their careers and fame from Himalaya -- Maximillian Morch * Asian Review of Books * The appropriate crown for John Keay's writing on Asia. His study of the Himalaya marks the grand finale to his prodigious twin histories of India and China. Roll over Edward Gibbon. The powerful reimagining of the Himalaya from the structural perspective adds to the mountaineering and mythological lore, while the magisterial style is lightened by marvellous one liners... One of the best and easily the most informed books on the Himalaya -- Bill Aitken, author of Seven Sacred Rivers A place of wonder, wonderfully caught ... Himalaya is a beguiling combination of geology and geography, geo-politics and spirituality, interspersed with accounts of those explorers who, down the ages, have sought to open up this inaccessible region -- Peter Stanford * Church Times * A book that is meant to be savoured, not to be conquered. Enjoy the ride -- Mandira Nayar * The Week, India *

Author Information

John Keay’s involvement with Himalaya dates back to the 1960s when he was a foreign correspondent in Kashmir. In the 1970s he published two works on the exploration of the Western Himalayas and in the 1980s he wrote and presented a seven-part BBC Radio 3 documentary series on the Himalayan kingdoms. He has continued to specialise in Asian affairs, his books including 5000-year histories of both India and China. Himalaya is the summation of a lifetime’s study. John Keay is married, has four children, lives in the West Highlands of Scotland and travels whenever he can. johnkeay.com

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