Late Victorian Holocausts

Davis has given us a book of substantial contemporary relevance as well as great historical interest...this highly informative book foes well beyond its immediate focus. -- Amartya Sen * The New York Times * Davis's range is stunning...He combines political economy, meteorology, and ecology with vivid narratives to create a book that is both a gripping read and a major conceptual achievement. Lots of us talk about writing 'world history' and 'interdisciplinary history': here is the genuine article. -- Kenneth Pomeranz, author of <i>The Great Divergence</i> The global climate meets a globalizing political economy, the fundamentals of one clashing with the fundamentalisms of the other. Mike Davis tells the story with zest, anger, and insight. -- Stephen J. Pyne, author of <i>World Fire</i> Davis, a brilliant maverick scholar, sets the triumph of the late-nineteenth-century Western imperialism in the context of catastrophic El Nio weather patterns at that time ... This is groundbreaking, mind-stretching stuff. * Independent * Late Victorian Holocausts will redefine the way we think about the European colonial project. After reading this, I defy even the most ardent nationalist to feel proud of the so-called 'achievements' of empire. * Observer * Devastating. * San Francisco Chronicle * Eloquent and passionate, this is a veritable Black Book of liberal capitalism. -- Tariq Ali Generations of historians largely ignored the implications [of the great famines of the late nineteenth century] and until recently dismissed them as 'climatic accidents'...Late Victorian Holocausts proves them wrong. * Los Angeles Times (Best Books of 2001) * Wide ranging and compelling...a remarkable achievement. * Times Literary Supplement * A masterly account of climatic, economic and colonial history. * New Scientist * A hero of the Left, Davis is part polemicist, part historian, and all Marxist. -- Dale Peck * Village Voice * The catalogue of cruelty Davis has unearthed is jaw-dropping . Late Victorian Holocausts is as ugly as it is compelling. -- Sukhdev Sandhu * Guardian * Controversial, comprehensive, and compelling, this book is megahistory at its most fascinating-a monument to times past, but hopefully not a predictor of future disasters. * Foreign Affairs * Devastating. * San Francisco Chronicle *

Mike Davis is the author of many books including Planet of Slums, City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, Late Victorian Holocausts, and Magical Urbanism. He was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.