This book assembles a host of front-line insights on the role of power and inequalities in shaping patterns of land use and resource management. Most of the contributions are informed by the notion of political ecology, recognizing that human relations to the environment and human social relations are not separate phenomena but inextricably intertwined.

Part I. Theoretical Perspectives on Historical Political Ecology 1. Accumulation: Land as a Medium of Domination Alf Hornborg 2. Techno-fix: Ecological Rifts and Capital Shifts Brett Clark and Richard York 3. Empire: The Comparative Study of Imperialism Janken Myrdal 4. Islands: Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Landesque Capital Eric Clark & Huei-Min Tsai 5. Guano: The Global Metabolic Rift and the Fertilizer Trade Brett Clark and John Bellamy Foster 6. Fleece: Imperial Metabolism in the Pre-Columbian Andes Ragnheiður Bogadóttir 7. Slaves: Inequality and Sustainable Agriculture in Pre-Colonial West Africa Mats Widgren 8. Steam: Nineteenth-Century Mechanization and the Power of Capital Andreas Malm 9. Ivory: Socio-ecological Consequences of the East African Ivory Trade N. Thomas Håkansson 10. Lawns: Botanical Garden Design as Colonial Domination Mats Mogren Part II. Struggles over Material Resources in the Modern World 11. Footprints: The Division of Nations and Nature Andrew K. Jorgenson and Brett Clark 12. Water: Irrigation and Resilience in the Tanzanian Highlands Michael J. Sheridan 13. Meat: The New Geopolitics of Food Ulf Jonsson 14. Trees: Conflicts Between Pastoralists, Loggers and Conservationists in the Himalayas Pernille Gooch 15. Grass: From Local Pastures to Global Energy Markets in Eastern Tanzania Gunilla A. Olsson & Lennart Bångens 16. Forests: Capital Accumulation, Climate Change, and Crises in Chile and Sweden Cristián Alarcón Ferrari 17. Jatropha: A Magic Bullet Filled with Oil Marie Widengård 18. Atoms: Nuclear Estrangement from Chernobyl to India Bengt G. Karlsson 19. Safflower: Liberalisation or Participation in a Tanzanian Village Wilhelm Östberg 20. Land-Claims: Racialized Environmental Struggles in Latin America Susan Paulson 21. Smoke: Cooking, Coughing and Collective Action in Kenya Anne Jerneck and Lennart Olsson 22. Sugarcane: Agrofuels and Conflicting Land Uses in Brazil Kenneth Hermele