This issue of RCC Perspectives offers insights into similarities and differences in the ways people in Asia have tried to master and control the often unpredictable and volatile environments of which they were part. In these histories, nonhuman actors such as capricious rivers, fluid delta regions, monsoon rains, and wild animals play an important role. In some instances, the power of nature facilitated colonial rule and exploitation; in others, it helped to subvert political control. The essays gathered here present new environmental scholarship that speaks across political boundaries, draws new connections between regions and time periods, and tells unexpected stories about the manifold relationships between nations, people, and their environment.