Through close examination of the correlation between tropicality and "otherness" and of science as a means of colonial appropriation, this volume offers a new interpretation of the history of colonial India and a critical contribution to the understanding of environmental history and the tropical world.<p><b>David Arnold</b> is professor emeritus of history at University of Warwick. <p>"Arnold deftly untangles and analyses the nature of the connections between literary representations of the land, the development of botanical knowledge, and the consolidation of colonial power." <i>-Times Literary Supplement </i><p>"A rich study of changing British perceptions of India. . . . Arnold's arguments about how scientific travelers of the early nineteenth century reimagined India as a place of death and tropicality are nuanced and powerful." <i>-Environmental History</i>