The City and the Wilderness

“Recent years have seen a revival in the history of the early modern Indo-Persian world, largely focused on the Mughal Empire and the Deccan. Arash Khazeni’s The City and the Wilderness is a novel and innovative contribution to this literature, but one which largely focuses on the eastern fringes of this world, especially mainland Southeast Asia. Through a close and masterful reading of texts and their accompanying images, Khazeni demonstrates his unique capacity for bringing together cultural, social, and environmental histories.”—Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Europe’s India: Words, People, Empires, 1500–1800

“Khazeni brilliantly captures his travelers’ enchanted encounters with the world of the Indo-Persian Burmese frontier. Unique and riveting. An exceptionally rare display of comprehensive scholarship that never loses the voices, the flavor, the magic, and the astonishment of the discovery of an uncharted new world of cultures and nature. Rich with both illustrations and historical implications for contemporary Burma.”—James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and author of Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States