Introduction -- Population, dams, and political repression: a story of two environmental disasters and the scientists who tried to avert them -- Deforestation, famine, and utopian urgency: how the Great Leap Forward mobilized the Chinese people to attack nature -- Grainfields in lakes and dogmatic uniformity: how "Learning from Dazhai" became an exercise in excess -- War preparations and forcible relocations: how factories polluted the mountains and youths "opened" the frontiers -- The legacy
Summary
"In clear and compelling prose, Judith Shapiro relates the great, untold story of China in the Mao years - the devastating impact of Maoist politics on China's environment. Under Mao, the traditional Chinese ideal of "Harmony between the Heavens and Humankind" was abrogated in favor of Mao's insistence that "Man Must Conquer Nature." Mao and the Chinese Communist Party's "war" to bend the physical world to human will often had disastrous consequences for both human beings and the natural environment. Mao's War Against Nature argues that the abuse of people and the abuse of nature are often linked."--Jacket
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-268) and index
