Tracing human interactions with the world’s most famous tropical timber species, The Social Life of Teak (September 2023, River Books, Bangkok & London) maps worlds revolving around teak forests, trees and wood.

What gives Tectona grandis such a powerful aura? How has it shaped people’s lives, driving fortunes and impacting futures? What has happened to the teak forests? What is their destiny?

In this illustrated anthology of oral histories, people connected personally or professionally to teak speak of survival, change and learning, creativity and destruction, growth and demise. Woven together, these experiences bring to light the ways that teak has been sought, crafted, cultivated, traded and valued over time.

Exploring teak’s significance highlights processes of consumption and commodification, inviting questions about our relationships with nature and the politics of value.

Animist beliefs, creative expression, scientific invention, economic viability, imperialist expansion, peak luxury, violent repression, ecological disaster and the regenerative power of nature all find a home in this global intergenerational tale.

Charting the domestication of wilderness and exposing the era of extinction of a feted natural resource, this book seeks to stimulate conversations about our role as nature’s most troublesome offspring.