That is the new James C. Scott book, from Yale University Press. It focuses on Burma [sic], and I found this to be the most typical and illustrative sentence:
Several of the commentators evaluating htis book in manuscript noticed that the section of river spirits (nats) and the much larger section describing the eco zones, hydrology of the Ayeyarwady, and the mapping of major human interventions represent something of a rupture from the preceding narrative on rivers.
Also:
One central purpose of this book is not only to recognize the animated liveliness of the river and its tributaries, but also to give voice to all the flora and fauna whose lifeworld centers around the river.
One section of the book is narrated from the first-person perspective of a river dolphin.
This is an essential book for understanding Scott. And from the preface we read:
The book before you contains more disjunctions than I would have preferred.
Scott was a great man and scholar, and this book reminds you that many such people are really quite weird, in the good sense of course. You can pre-order it here.
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