This volume which is likely to be of interest primarily to specialists on the northeastern hill region of India, is a conference proceedings masquerading as a book. It presents a diverse collection of 33 chapters; most are focused on spome aspect of shifting cultivation, but some deal only with forests or homegardens. Three-quarters of the chapters are about India; three of them on Yunnan, China; two cover Laos; and one each discusses Burma and northern Thailand. A concluding chapter examines some key problems relating to shifting cultivation.