2
buoyant in the late nineteenth century, but fell away through the rst three decades of the twentieth. Only coca leaves were exported from Bolivia at this time; Peruvian cocaine extraction was not practiced in Bolivia. Using the Peruvian methodcocaine was extracted in the remote towns of the yungas or eastern Andean foothills. So simple was the technique that it could be done in factories almost adjacent to coca elds. Cocaine extracted from Peruvian and Bolivian leaf found a booming market e in patent medicines sold over the counter in North America, in tonic wines like Vin Mariani in France, and in drugstore fountain drinks across the USA. And it is here that the most famous soda of all e Coca Cola e enters the story. Coca Cola, invented by John Pemberton in his Atlanta drugstore, used cocaine as a secretingredient. By the early twentieth century cocaine use was widespread in North America, Europe, and Japan, and, though apparently toler- ated by western European and the Japanese governments, the US government took the moral high ground and launched a worldwide campaign to make non-medical cocaine use and unlicensed cocaine extraction illegal. Peru was in their sights. As Gootenberg explains in third section of the book, their campaign was waged throughout the rst half of the twentieth century. There was a crackdown on patent medicines developed around cocaine. Coca Colas cocaine was replaced by other coca leaf extracts, cocaine paste imports into the USA were banned, and coca leaf imports into the USA were severely restricted to service only the regulated medical industry and extracts for Coca Cola. The campaign waged by Washington gained traction among the global powers, with the two world wars being pivotal times. As part of the First World War reparations the patent that Merck held to extract cocaine was given to the USA. In an echo of the well known rubber story, European countries and Japan took coca seeds or plants from South America and created plantations in east Africa, Formosa, Ceylon, the Dutch East Indies (Java), and Hawaii to circumvent the international crackdown on cocaine in South America. Between 1930 and 1945 the illegal status of cocaine outside controlled medical use was gradually accepted worldwide. And there we have Gootenbergs story at the end of the Second World War: Peru lost the battle to retain an indigenous, interna- tional industry to North American commercial and political inter- ests. However Gootenbergs analysis does not end at that point. The loss of cocaines legal status had been well signaled. Illegal commodity chains were well prepared to use the available knowledge and occupy the commercial space that was created. Forest chemists, with the knowledge and experience of the Peru- vian extraction method, slipped unnoticed through the forests of the PerueBolivia border and found Bolivian farmers in La Paz and Cochabamba Departments growing coca for the domestic market. Buying leaves and extracting cocaine must have been relatively easy. A market of illegal cocaine dealers and users was ready and waiting in North America and elsewhere in the world. The rest, as they say, is history, and chapters six and seven focus on the illegal networks established after the Second World War and the cocaine boom that started in the late 1960s. Coca growing in Chapare appears to be a combination of timing (Peruvian chemists moving across the border after cocaine was made illegal) and space (having the right ecological conditions for coca cultivation). Colombias rise to be the main producer is tied closely to the geography of the illegal cocaine trading networks established in the 1940s and 1950s. I read this book with awe. The research that went into this shows inspiration, dogged persistence, and a meticulous eye for detail: I understand it took over a decade to gather and analyse this information. The book is exceptionally well produced and, while answering many questions, raises many other avenues of research for commodity historians and geographers alike. Andrew C. Millington Flinders University, Australia doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2011.06.015 Mark Carey, In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society. New York, Oxford University Press, 2010, vii þ 273 pages, US$24.95 paperback. Climate change alters atmospheric, geological, and ecological systems, with profound consequences for human societies. There is also a complex interaction with human perceptions of, and actions in regard to, those various biophysical changes. In this book Mark Carey provides a rich array of examples which show the importance of considering the reactions of local people to changing environmental conditions in the high elevations of north-central Peru. He bookends detailed observations derived from interviews and archival research with introductory and conclusion chapters that cover a broad array of literatures, including natural hazards, environmental crises, and science and technology studies. The book is arranged in rough chronological order beginning with a dramatic ood that destroyed much of the town of Huaraz in 1941, and proceeding to the many subsequent events in that part of Peru that involved the recognition and mitigation of dangers from continued hazards originating in the tectonic and glacial systems of the high Andes. He ends with a chapter on the near present, with continuing reverberations of the neoliberal reorganization of Peru begun in the 1990s. On 13 December 1941 the glacial moraine damming Lake Palca- cocha broke and the resulting ood destroyed much of Huaraz. Carey uses newspaper accounts, engineersreports, and recollections of townspeople and others living in the capital city of Lima to docu- ment the aftermath. He says that the catastrophe in Huaraz helped connect Lima with highland Peru in new waysdsymbolically, politically, and discursively(p. 30). Hazard zoning was attempted and then abandoned during rebuilding. In chapter two he moves into a deeper analysis of the social issues involved, including tensions between the rural and urban populations, between those directly affected by disasters and those who were promoting certain kinds of economic development, and among the engineers and scientists and their bosses in Lima and their constituents living downhill from other dangerous glacial lakes. Over the next decade, as detailed in chapter three, new kinds of social landscape and hybrid knowledge were created in highland Peru. The glacial lakes around Huaraz and other nearby towns were systematically visited and classied in terms of their danger for moraine failure. Some were drained and in others security dams were built to lessen risk. However, in many cases it was not danger to downstream populations that directly drove decisions on priorities for mitigation, but instead economics, with transportation infra- structure and hydroelectric facilities receiving most attention. Here is it clear that political will often acted with coastal and urban concerns in mind. However, Carey also shows how local people helped shape some of the decisions, ironically becoming dependent in the process upon the national government to carry out local hazard mitigation. Chapter four details the interaction of nation building and local development, with examples drawn from the divergent ways that four glacial lakes were dealt with: a controversial but arguably successful control project in Lake Tullparaju; a difcult control effort in Lake Safuna justied because of risks to hydroelectric facilities; Reviews / Journal of Historical Geography 37 (2011) 393e406 399

In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society

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Reviews / Journal of Historical Geography 37 (2011) 393e406 399

buoyant in the late nineteenth century, but fell away through the firstthree decades of the twentieth. Only coca leaves were exported fromBolivia at this time; Peruvian cocaine extractionwas not practiced inBolivia.

Using the ‘Peruvian method’ cocaine was extracted in theremote towns of the yungas or eastern Andean foothills. So simplewas the technique that it could be done in factories almost adjacentto coca fields. Cocaine extracted from Peruvian and Bolivian leaffound a booming market e in patent medicines sold over thecounter in North America, in tonic wines like Vin Mariani in France,and in drugstore fountain drinks across the USA. And it is here thatthe most famous soda of all e Coca Cola e enters the story. CocaCola, invented by John Pemberton in his Atlanta drugstore, usedcocaine as a ‘secret’ ingredient.

By the early twentieth century cocaine use was widespread inNorth America, Europe, and Japan, and, though apparently toler-ated by western European and the Japanese governments, the USgovernment took themoral high ground and launched aworldwidecampaign tomake non-medical cocaine use and unlicensed cocaineextraction illegal. Peru was in their sights.

As Gootenberg explains in third section of the book, theircampaign was waged throughout the first half of the twentiethcentury. There was a crackdown on patent medicines developedaround cocaine. Coca Cola’s cocaine was replaced by other cocaleaf extracts, cocaine paste imports into the USAwere banned, andcoca leaf imports into the USA were severely restricted to serviceonly the regulated medical industry and extracts for Coca Cola.The campaign waged by Washington gained traction among theglobal powers, with the two world wars being pivotal times. Aspart of the First World War reparations the patent that Merck heldto extract cocaine was given to the USA. In an echo of the wellknown rubber story, European countries and Japan took cocaseeds or plants from South America and created plantations ineast Africa, Formosa, Ceylon, the Dutch East Indies (Java), andHawaii to circumvent the international crackdown on cocaine inSouth America. Between 1930 and 1945 the illegal status ofcocaine outside controlled medical use was gradually acceptedworldwide.

And there we have Gootenberg’s story at the end of the SecondWorld War: Peru lost the battle to retain an indigenous, interna-tional industry to North American commercial and political inter-ests. However Gootenberg’s analysis does not end at that point. Theloss of cocaine’s legal status had been well signaled. Illegalcommodity chains were well prepared to use the availableknowledge and occupy the commercial space that was created.Forest chemists, with the knowledge and experience of the Peru-vian extraction method, slipped unnoticed through the forests ofthe PerueBolivia border and found Bolivian farmers in La Paz andCochabamba Departments growing coca for the domestic market.Buying leaves and extracting cocaine must have been relativelyeasy. A market of illegal cocaine dealers and users was ready andwaiting in North America and elsewhere in the world. The rest, asthey say, is history, and chapters six and seven focus on the illegalnetworks established after the Second World War and the cocaineboom that started in the late 1960s. Coca growing in Chapareappears to be a combination of timing (Peruvian chemists movingacross the border after cocaine was made illegal) and space (havingthe right ecological conditions for coca cultivation). Colombia’s riseto be the main producer is tied closely to the geography of theillegal cocaine trading networks established in the 1940s and1950s.

I read this book with awe. The research that went into thisshows inspiration, dogged persistence, and a meticulous eye fordetail: I understand it took over a decade to gather and analyse thisinformation. The book is exceptionally well produced and, while

answering many questions, raises many other avenues of researchfor commodity historians and geographers alike.

Andrew C. MillingtonFlinders University, Australia

doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2011.06.015

Mark Carey, In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change andAndean Society. New York, Oxford University Press, 2010,vii þ 273 pages, US$24.95 paperback.

Climate change alters atmospheric, geological, and ecologicalsystems, with profound consequences for human societies. There isalso a complex interactionwith humanperceptions of, and actions inregard to, those various biophysical changes. In this bookMark Careyprovides a rich array of examples which show the importance ofconsidering the reactions of local people to changing environmentalconditions in the high elevations of north-central Peru. He bookendsdetailed observations derived from interviews and archival researchwith introductory and conclusion chapters that cover a broad array ofliteratures, including natural hazards, environmental crises, andscience and technology studies.

The book is arranged in rough chronological order beginningwith a dramatic flood that destroyed much of the town of Huaraz in1941, and proceeding to the many subsequent events in that part ofPeru that involved the recognition and mitigation of dangers fromcontinued hazards originating in the tectonic and glacial systems ofthe high Andes. He ends with a chapter on the near present, withcontinuing reverberations of the neoliberal reorganization of Perubegun in the 1990s.

On 13 December 1941 the glacial moraine damming Lake Palca-cocha broke and the resulting flood destroyedmuch of Huaraz. Careyuses newspaper accounts, engineers’ reports, and recollections oftownspeople and others living in the capital city of Lima to docu-ment the aftermath. He says that ‘the catastrophe in Huaraz helpedconnect Lima with highland Peru in new waysdsymbolically,politically, and discursively’ (p. 30). Hazard zoning was attemptedand then abandoned during rebuilding. In chapter two hemoves intoa deeper analysis of the social issues involved, including tensionsbetween the rural and urban populations, between those directlyaffected by disasters and those whowere promoting certain kinds ofeconomic development, and among the engineers and scientists andtheir bosses in Lima and their constituents living downhill fromother dangerous glacial lakes.

Over the next decade, as detailed in chapter three, new kinds ofsocial landscape and hybrid knowledge were created in highlandPeru. The glacial lakes around Huaraz and other nearby towns weresystematically visited and classified in terms of their danger formoraine failure. Someweredrained and inothers securitydamswerebuilt to lessen risk. However, in many cases it was not danger todownstream populations that directly drove decisions on prioritiesfor mitigation, but instead economics, with transportation infra-structure and hydroelectric facilities receivingmost attention. Here isit clear that political will often actedwith coastal and urban concernsin mind. However, Carey also shows how local people helped shapesome of the decisions, ironically becoming dependent in the processupon the national government to carry out local hazard mitigation.

Chapter four details the interaction of nation building and localdevelopment, with examples drawn from the divergent ways thatfour glacial lakes were dealt with: a controversial but arguablysuccessful control project in Lake Tullparaju; a difficult control effortin Lake Safuna justified because of risks to hydroelectric facilities;

Reviews / Journal of Historical Geography 37 (2011) 393e406400

a costly engineering and drilling project that converted Lake Paróninto a reservoir designed to help regulate water flow for theproduction of electricity; and Lake Llanganuco, developed mostlyfor tourism. Several dozen lakes were considered highly dangerous,but those mitigated were predominately those useful for broadernational development goals.

Large avalanches off snow-peaked Mount Huascarán revealedthat it was not only glacial lakes that were hazards. There were verydestructive avalanches in 1962 and 1970, the latter producing one ofthe world’s largest natural disasters, as it followed a massive earth-quake on 31 May 1970 and mostly destroyed the town of Yungay.Rebuilding efforts were contested, with local people quite reluctantto shift their houses and businesses to new sites presumed to be saferfromrepeat events. Chapterfiveusesphotographs effectively to showbefore and after the avalanches,with a 2003photograph taken by theauthor showing current housing built in the riverine corridorsupposedly zoned as too hazardous to develop. He calls this ‘con-tested science’ wherein technological solutions are either rejectedoutright ormodified throughnegotiation tomake themacceptable tolocal people (p. 136).

Chapter six tells ‘The story of vanishing water towers’ and thenarrative shifts scale to include global concerns about the conse-quences of glacial retreat. Places such as Peru not only have dis-appearing ice caps, but are quite dependent upon water resourcesoriginating in the high mountains. Carey shows how the discourseshifted: from being hazards in the 1960s glaciers became dwindlingnatural resources by the 1990s. Institutional efforts shifted fromhazard mitigation to efforts to maintain discharges for hydroelec-tric needs and massive coastal irrigation projects.

State control of lands and natural resources in the high moun-tainswas amplified in the 1990s through the Fujimori government’semphasis on neoliberal reforms and foreign investments. DukeEnergy, headquartered in North Carolina, now produces energyfrom the water melting from the mountain peaks around Huaraz.Carey describes in chapter seven many cases wherein decisionsabout rural development, in particular concerning water resources,benefitted a multinational company rather than the local pop-ulations. As he says about one dangerouswater body, ‘Suddenly thisglacial lakewas at the center of national debates not only about howneoliberalismwas playing out, but also about citizenparticipation ina democratic government, the state’s involvement in the economy,social welfare programs, access to natural resources, and environ-mental management. These debates involved a foreign energycompany, diverse Peruvian residents, scientists and engineers,attorneys and judges, mountaineers, environmental groups, andpoliticians at all levels of government’ (p. 185).

This book provides a wealth of examples drawn from the inter-faces among global environmental change, natural hazards, andsocietal responses. It is nicely illustratedwithmaps and photographs,is clearlywritten, and has a useful index. Although it taps into a broadarrayof research literatures for inspiration and for comparisons, thereare some overlooked aspects, including added complexities presentin his study area due to the establishment of a large protected area in1975 (Huascarán National Park), the pervasive effects on land tenureof agrarian reformbegun in1969, and theproliferation of newminingclaims in the1990s. That said, this is an interesting introduction to theways that society may deal with retreating glaciers and the hazards,risks, and potentials that they represent.

Kenneth R. YoungUniversity of Texas at Austin, USA

doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2011.06.018

Karen V. Lykke Syse and Terje Oestigaard (Eds), Perceptions of Waterin Britain from Early Modern Times to the Present: An Introduction.Bergen, BRIC (University of Bergen) Press, 2010, 145 pages, no price.

This book comes from the research project ‘Understanding therole of water in history and development’ at the Centre forAdvanced Studies at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Lettersand particularly from its 2009 research seminar, contributors towhich are the authors of the book’s chapters. The project’s leader,Terje Tvedt, is a recent contributor to the literature on water ina volumewith Terje Oestigaard in the Tauris History of Water series(2010). The commodification of water in industrialising andurbanising societies is a lively research topic amongst environ-mental historians and historical geographers, as well as a pressingissue in present day environmental politics and health and socialjustice campaigns. The very nature of water has recently beenprovocatively deconstructed (J. Linton,What isWater? The History ofa Modern Abstraction (2010), reviewed in JHG 37 2011), while itsintersectionwith themes as various as industrialisation (see HarrietRitvo, The Dawn of Green (2009) reviewed in JHG 36 2010) andtherapeutic landscapes (Ronan Foley, Healing Waters (2010), to bereviewed in JHG) show how effective a way into debate it can be.The book under review here seeks to add to the debate byconsidering perceptions of water in early modern, modern, andpostmodern Britain.

The introduction, which provides little more than a summary ofeach chapter, is followed by Terje Oestigaard’s exploration of the‘topography’ of holy water in postreformation England. This ispotentially a very interesting topic, but its treatment here disap-points. Weber’s 1930s ideas about the cultural impact of thereformation are too dated a point of departure. There is no primaryscholarship, and ‘evidence’ is culled from a variety of secondarysources with no regard to the intellectual positions of their authors,so ‘facts’ from Eamon Duffy’s revisionist works are set alongsidethose from earlier works without methodological comment, andinformation is drawn from Peter Ackroyd and Keith Thomas as iftheir scholarship and intended audiences were comparable. Argu-ments are made about postreformation Christian practice inEngland using evidence from Scotland and continental Reformedchurches, from a prereformation cardinal, and from new age spir-ituality (all p. 23), and the chapter ends with the truly startlingstatement that ‘one may argue that it [the ‘water cult’] defined layChristianity’ (p. 31).

Karen Lykke Syse then considers leisure, pleasure, and theriver in early modern England. We again feel somewhat at seabecause of the lack of chronological and geographical precisionas we read about Celts (p. 35), Jerome K. Jerome (p. 37), andAncient Greeks and Vikings (p. 43) in a chapter ostensibly aboutearly modern England. The comment on Juliana Berners (p. 39)and Izaak Walton (p. 40) relies on rather dated scholarship andWalton’s politics and their connection with natural theology gounremarked. The best section comprises interesting quotationsand illustrations from early modern treatises on swimming.Elsewhere the reader might more profitably go to the sourceslisted in the bibliography.

In the next chapter Richard Coopey explores angling and societyin Britain since 1800. This is a more closely focused (although stillchronologically over ambitious) discussionwhich considers anglingin the contexts of industrialisation, urbanisation, and changingattitudes to leisure, work, and the natural world. Interesting detailand comment are marred by an impressionistic referencing systemwhich leaves long sections without sources, but are enlivened bythe author’s enthusiasm for angling.

In ‘Searching for the Molendinar’ Justin Carter traces the historyof the Molendinar burn which went from surface stream to