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Contents: Introduction. Part I: 1. The river and its floodplain environment. 2. Life in a floodplain environment. 3. Boats on the river. 4. The ebb and flow of riverine pursuits. Part II: 5. Enter the steamer. 6. Redesigning an enigmatic river. Part III: 7. Managing the quagmire. 8. Tea plants move to the uplands. 9. Jute in the floodplains. 10. In the time of earthquakes. Part IV: 11. Reining in the unquiet river. 12. The nation’s river. Afterword. Bibliography. Index. The unruly Brahmaputra has always been an agent in shaping both the landscape of its valley and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. But how much do we know of this river’s rich past? Historian Arupjyoti Saikia’s biography of the Brahmaputra reimagines the layered history of Assam with the unquiet river at the centre. The book combines a range of disciplinary scholarship to unravel the geological forces as well as human endeavour which have shaped the river into what it is today. Wonderfully illuminated with archival detail and interwoven with narratives and striking connections, the book allows the reader to imagine the Brahmaputra’s course in history. This evocative and compelling book will be interesting reading for anyone trying to understand the past and the present of a river confronted by the twenty-first century’s ambitious infrastructural designs to further re-engineer the river and its landscape.