Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh is a book by Helena Norberg-Hodge. The book was published in 1991.
The 1st part of the book describes the untouched land of Ladakh, when Helena first arrived in 1975 when everyone was so happy and contented. In the "olden" world, Ladakhis women enjoyed high social status and families and communities ties were very strong.
The 2nd part describes how the peaceful land of Ladakh changed socially, ecologically and economically when "development" set in.[1] Ladakhis began to enjoy the comfort and convenience of modernization, while increasing greed, intolerance, unemployment, inflation, pollution etc. set in and is threatening the ecological balance and social harmony which were maintained over the past centuries.
The book raises important questions about the whole notion of progress, and explores the root causes of the problems faced by a highly industrialized society.[2] This book was translated into almost 40 languages and is used regularly at the grassroots level to raise awareness.[1