review by Celia Lowe of Beyond Great Walls: Environment, Identity, and Development on the Chinese Grasslands of Inner Mongolia by Dee Mack Williams:
"Although Williams does not dispute the degraded state of the land, he does contest both Chinese and Western authoritative interpretations of its meanings and causes. The author brings together culture, politics, history, and nature at international, national, and local scales to compare Mongol herders' sensibilities with those of Han and Western scientists...
"Mongol marginalization is at the heart of grassland disputes...
"Discourses of science help mask Han-Mongol antagonisms, and Williams demonstrates that Mongol notions are often accurate where scientists' theories fail...
"Whereas the research station praises its Han scientists, saying 'heart blood has become sweet dew, the desert has become an oasis,' herders restate this verse as 'an oasis has become a desert under the management of the research station'...
"One great joy in this book is Williams's ability to narrate the life stories of Mongol herders. Beyond Great Walls is a pleasure to read..."
-American Ethnologist
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