Books that teach

Geography The First Frontier

The land defines who we are and what we must defend. These are the works that map it.

This pillar is stated on the parent site — read the essay on fortressindia.in →

The works

Western ArunachalVolume one of the Arunachal Trilogy — The Sap Runs Perennial, on the Great Himalayan Wall’s easternmost stretch.
Central ArunachalVolume two — Ladders to Heaven, through the tribal belts and terrain of Arunachal’s middle zone.
Eastern ArunachalVolume three — The Wild Green Kingdom, in the Theravada Buddhist and Hindu foothills.
1962: The War That Wasn'tThe honest record of India's Himalayan reckoning with China.
1965: A Western SunriseIndia's war with Pakistan — from the Rann of Kutch to Kashmir to the plains of Punjab.
Ghosts in ShadowsIndia’s ecological inheritance photographed on its own terms — not as scenery, but as security.
Genetic TreasuresA photographic record of the species India’s ecological inheritance still sustains.
South of VindhyasThe landscapes and species of peninsular India, photographed as living ecological heritage.
The Deep PurpleThe KaleidoIndia series turned on India’s natural terrain — the ground the other three books stand on.
Life and Culture in Northeast IndiaThe people, culture and heritage of the Northeast — the precursor to the Northeast Trilogy.
Tamil Nadu & PuducherryA large-format record of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry that Gen (Dr) VK Singh compared to the Madras Gazetteer.
The Northeast TrilogyFilling in the blanks on the map — the Northeast in all its complexity.
The Long Road to SiachenPart memoir, part history — the question why, two hundred years in the making.
Assam RiflesA tribute to the sentinels of the Northeast.
Ocean to Sky: India from the AirIndia photographed from fighter cockpits at 30,000 feet — the earth as art.