BOOK REVIEW New Historical Approach to Forestry Ajoy S. Rawat (ed.), History of Forestry in India, India Pub. House, New Delhi, pp. 268, Rs. 350. This collection of articles deals, among a host of other issues, with the changing attitudes to forests through the ages. The tribal and pre-tribal societies depended on and venerated forests. During the feudal period the forests were used for hunting besides an increased decimation for building and trade activities without much consideration for its impact on the environment and on the populations dependent on forests for a thousand things like leaf compost, grazing, manure, firewood, etc. The arrival of the British is identified as the watershed beyond which began the wanton destruction of our forests exclusively for profit. The impact was soon to be seen in floods, droughts, landslides, expansion of deserts, etc. and brought into sharp focus the interlinkages between forests and man. This underlined the need to evolve a national policy on forests. Efforts were started to change the approach from production forestry to protection forestry. This change in approach was understandably opposed by those whose profits were being threatened. The different approaches on the question of exploitation of forest resources can, without fear of over-simplification, be divided into three groups. The first suggests that there is nothing wrong in chopping trees since there are, and there will always be, more trees than are being chopped. The supporters of this approach by-and-large consist of those involved in forest-based production, in timber trade, their agents, 'policy makers' and the bureaucracy. The second and the third approaches are adopted by protectionists and environmentalists. The former is opposed to cutting of trees per se and is also by and large opposed to all developmental activities. The supporters of this approach wish to go back to the pre-British days of self-sufficient villagers protecting their forests. The third approach has been described as the 'Appropriate Techniques* school by Madhav Gadgil. who contributes an exhaustive paper in the work under review. He suggests that the people be involved in protecting their environment while participating in the process of economic development. Social Scientist, Vol. 19, Nos. 9-10, October-November, 1991