HIMALAYA

An exploration of the history and possible future of the Himalayas.

Since the 1960s, historian and journalist Keay has been traveling to and writing about the Himalayas. Now, in his 22nd book, he offers a panoramic overview of the history, archaeology, geology, politics, religions, and cultures of the storied mountain range, highlighting the individuals who have aspired to reach its peaks, visited its sacred sites, investigated its flora and fauna, and created its vivid mythology. Among an international cast of intrepid, sometimes eccentric characters are the German polar explorer Alfred Wegener, who theorized the idea of continental drift; the flamboyant Italian Giuseppe Vincenzo Tucci, whom Keay deems the greatest Tibetologist of the 20th century; linguists and folklorists David and Emily Lorimer; and opera diva and devout Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel, whose memoir My Journey to Lhasa (1927) “offers a wealth of fantasy, anecdote and domestic detail,” including “hallucinations, divinations, mystic encounters, feats of endurance, family disputes, miracles galore and some leaden humour.” The Himalayas are a vast, young range, notes Keay. Mount Everest grows a few centimeters per year, and the area is so seismically active that it experiences an earthquake every week. “Seen from afar,” writes the author, “with the snows of their dragon’s-back skyline snagging the clouds, they epitomise permanence and eternity; but geologically speaking they are neither permanent nor eternal.” Paleontologists have discovered remains of mastodon and hippopotamus, porcupine and rat, among species that could not have survived in the current climate. Culturally and politically, the region has undergone dramatic changes as well. Leay examines the fraught conflicts that have beset much of the region: Nepal, home to 129 languages, struggling “to assert a distinct identity”; Tibet, coveted by China; and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state in a Hindu-dominated Indian republic. Ecologically vulnerable, the region is in need of environmental safeguards—not least, against defilement from climbers’ trash. Pair this one with Ed Douglas’ Himalaya: A Human History.

A wide-ranging adventure into rugged terrain.