• Exhaustively researched and the arguments presented are supported by a close study of archival documents that will make new material available to other scholars (external reviewer)

• A genuine pioneering study of Malaysian urban history, and breaks much new ground. At its best it is fine-grained social history of which we have seen far too little in Southeast Asia (external reviewer)

Nature and Nation explores the relations between people and forests in Peninsular Malaysia where the planet’s richest terrestrial eco-system met head-on with the fastest pace of economic transformation experienced in the tropical world. It engages the interplay of history, culture, science, economics and politics to provide a holistic interpretation of the continuing relevance of forests to state and society in the moist tropics.

Malaysia has long been singled out for emulation by developing nations, an accolade contradicted in recent years by concerns over its capital-, rather than poverty-driven forest depletion. The Malaysian case supports the call for re-appraisal of entrenched prescriptions for development that go beyond material needs.

"The author’s work makes a major contribution to the forest history of Peninsular Malaysia and … it will long be regarded as a ground-breaking and seminal study that no one with an interest in the environmental history of the region can afford not to read. Nothing remotely like it exists for the Peninsula and I know of no other comparable work on any other part of the Tropics. It is sui generis." (External reader)

Contents
Preamble
Introduction
Tropical Nature and the Imperial Design, 1786–c.1900
Forests in the Pioneer Era, 1874–c.1900: Boon or Bane?
Appropriating the Forest, 1901–40
Segmented Space and Livelihoods
Reconciling the Conflicting Claims of Development
Nature, Ecology and Conservation, Pre-World War II
Perceptions of Nature and Nation before World War II
The Seminal Years of Forest Politics, 1941–56
Development at a Price, 1957–c.1970
Conservation and Civil Society
Integrating Biodiversity with Development: Myth or Reality?
The Politics of Resources
Domestic Response to the New International Order: Rio and After
Whither Malaysia?
Bibliography
Index