An insightful study of human ecology of Western Rajasthan, the book emphasizes the strategies by which adapt themselves to the ever-present threat of drought. With his primary focus on the village of Hinganiya and its peripheral areas, the author demonstrates how strategies adopted in these villages differ somewhat from each other and from the strategies adopted elsewhere in the region. Also exploring the extent to which drought leads to starvation and famine, the reasons why it may do so in some cases, but not in others, and the way in which people deal with the risk or actual occurrence of famine, Dr Fisher concludes that adaptive strategies are individual responses to specific conditions existing at a particular point of time.

Dr R J Fisher, Ph D (Anthropology) from the University of Sydney, is currently at the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre at Kasetsart University, Thailand.