Turbulent Streams

Roderick I. Wilson

ISBN 10: 9004433015 / ISBN 13: 9789004433014

Published by Brill, NL, 2021

About this Item

In Turbulent Streams: An Environmental History of Japan's Rivers, 1600-1930, Roderick I. Wilson describes how the rivers of Japan are both hydrologically and historically dynamic. Today, these waterways are slowed, channeled, diverted, and dammed by a myriad of levees, multiton concrete tetrapods, and massive multipurpose dams. In part, this intensive engineering arises from the waterways falling great elevations over short distances, flowing over unstable rock and soil, and receiving large quantities of precipitation during monsoons and typhoons. But this modern river regime is also the product of a history that narrowed both these waterways and people's diverse interactions with them in the name of flood control. Neither a story of technological progress nor environmental decline, this history introduces the concept of environmental relations as a category of historical analysis both to explore these fluvial interactions and reveal underappreciated dimensions of Japanese history.

Seller Inventory # LU-9789004433014

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Turbulent Streams
• Publisher: Brill, NL
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004433015
• ISBN 13: 9789004433014
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 16.51W x 1.91H x 24.77D centimeters 16.51 centimeters width by 1.91 centimeters height by 24.77 centimeters depth
• Weight: 640 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In Turbulent Streams: An Environmental History of Japan’s Rivers, 1600–1930, Roderick I. Wilson describes how the rivers of Japan are both hydrologically and historically dynamic. Today, these waterways are slowed, channeled, diverted, and dammed by a myriad of levees, multiton concrete tetrapods, and massive multipurpose dams. In part, this intensive engineering arises from the waterways falling great elevations over short distances, flowing over unstable rock and soil, and receiving large quantities of precipitation during monsoons and typhoons. But this modern river regime is also the product of a history that narrowed both these waterways and people’s diverse interactions with them in the name of flood control. Neither a story of technological progress nor environmental decline, this history introduces the concept of environmental relations as a category of historical analysis both to explore these fluvial interactions and reveal underappreciated dimensions of Japanese history.

About the Author

Roderick I. Wilson, Ph.D., Stanford University, is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he teaches and writes about topics in Japanese and environmental history.