A cultural history of climate

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000010222060	GF71 B43 2010	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Razak School	33000000000820	GF71 B43 2010	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown

Global warming and the future of the climate is one of the greatest challenges of our time, but what do we know about climate variations 500 years ago, or 5000 years ago? How can we know anything at all about the history of weather? What impact have climate changes had on human prosperity and the spirit of invention?

In this major new book Wolfgang Behringer introduces us to the latest historical research on the development of the earth's climate. He focuses above all on the cultural reactions to climate change through the ages, showing how even minor changes in the climate sometimes resulted in major social, political and religious upheavals. By examining how our predecessors responded to climate changes, Behringer provides us with a fresh basis for thinking about how we might address the serious climatic challenges we face today.

Author Notes

Wolfgang Behringer is Professor of History and Chair of Early Modern History at Saarland University, Germany

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In this volume first published in German in 2007, historian Behringer (Saarland Univ., Germany) discusses human reactions and adaptations in coping with climate and environmental change, beginning with the origins of planet Earth. Chapter 1 covers scientific methods used to reconstruct past climates, causes of climate change, and climate change over the past 4 billion years through the evolution and spread throughout the Old World of Homo erectus. Chapter 2 focuses on Homo sapiens, their spread throughout the world, and the rise of civilization through the Medieval Warm Period, ending at circa 1300 CE. Chapters 3 and 4 detail the catastrophic Little Ice Age to 1850 CE and its impact primarily on European societies. Chapters 5 and 6 critically examine global warming in the context of the history of the global warming debate, the validity of the science underlying global warming, and the politics of global warming. Although there are a few inaccurate statements on Latin American archaeology, this well-researched volume by an eminent historian is a welcome addition to the corpus of climate change literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. J. B. Richardson III emeritus, University of Pittsburgh

Preface	p. vii
List of Figures	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
1 What Do We Know about the Climate?	p. 8
Sources of Climate History	p. 8
Causes of Climate Change	p. 14
The Palaeoclimate since the Formation of the Planet	p. 20
2 Global Warming: The Holocene	p. 31
Children of the Ice Age	p. 31
Global Warming and Civilization	p. 39
From Roman Optimum to Medieval Warm Period	p. 60
3 Global Cooling: The Little Ice Age	p. 85
The Concept of the Little Ice Age	p. 85
The Changing Environment	p. 88
Dance of Death	p. 103
Winter Blues	p. 115
4 Cultural Consequences of the Little Ice Age	p. 121
The Wrathful God	p. 121
Sin Economics as the Motor of Change	p. 133
The Cool Sun of Reason	p. 146
5 Global Warming: The Modern Warm Period	p. 168
Apparent Uncoupling from the Forces of Nature	p. 168
The Discovery of Global Warming	p. 182
Reactions to Climate Change	p. 191
6 Epilogue: Sins against the Environment and Greenhouse Climate	p. 206
Notes	p. 218
Further Reading	p. 262
Index	p. 264

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Author Notes

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Table of Contents