J. R. McNeill - Böcker

The Earth has entered a new age—the Anthropocene—in which humans are the most powerful influence on global ecology. Since the mid-twentieth century, the accelerating pace of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and population growth has thrust the planet into a massive uncontrolled experiment. The Great Acceleration explains its causes and consequences, highlighting the role of energy systems, as well as trends in climate change, urbanization, and environmentalism.More than any other factor, human dependence on fossil fuels inaugurated the Anthropocene. Before 1700, people used little in the way of fossil fuels, but over the next two hundred years coal became the most important energy source. When oil entered the picture, coal and oil soon accounted for seventy-five percent of human energy use. This allowed far more economic activity and produced a higher standard of living than people had ever known—but it created far more ecological disruption.We are now living in the Anthropocene. The period from 1945 to the present represents the most anomalous period in the history of humanity’s relationship with the biosphere. Three-quarters of the carbon dioxide humans have contributed to the atmosphere has accumulated since World War II ended, and the number of people on Earth has nearly tripled. So far, humans have dramatically altered the planet’s biogeochemical systems without consciously managing them. If we try to control these systems through geoengineering, we will inaugurate another stage of the Anthropocene. Where it might lead, no one can say for sure.

The history of the twentieth century is most often told through its world wars, the rise and fall of communism, or its economic upheavals. In his startling book, J. R. McNeill gives us our first general account of what may prove to be the most significant dimension of the twentieth century: its environmental history. To a degree unprecedented in human history, we have refashioned the earth's air, water, and soil, and the biosphere of which we are a part. Based on exhaustive research, McNeill's story—a compelling blend of anecdotes, data, and shrewd analysis—never preaches: it is our definitive account.This is a volume in The Global Century Series (general editor, Paul Kennedy).

World-historical questions such as these, the subjects of major works by Jared Diamond, David Landes, and others, are now of great moment as global frictions increase. In a spirited and original contribution to this quickening discussion, two renowned historians, father and son, explore the webs that have drawn humans together in patterns of interaction and exchange, cooperation and competition, since earliest times. Whether small or large, loose or dense, these webs have provided the medium for the movement of ideas, goods, power, and money within and across cultures, societies, and nations. From the thin, localized webs that characterized agricultural communities twelve thousand years ago, through the denser, more interactive metropolitan webs that surrounded ancient Sumer, Athens, and Timbuktu, to the electrified global web that today envelops virtually the entire world in a maelstrom of cooperation and competition, J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill show human webs to be a key component of world history and a revealing framework of analysis. Avoiding any determinism, environmental or cultural, the McNeills give us a synthesizing picture of the big patterns of world history in a rich, open-ended, concise account.

Since 1750, the world has become ever more connected, with processes of production and destruction no longer limited by land- or water-based modes of transport and communication. Volume 7 of the Cambridge World History series, divided into two books, offers a variety of angles of vision on the increasingly interconnected history of humankind. The second book questions the extent to which the transformations of the modern world have been shared, focusing on social developments such as urbanization, migration, and changes in family and sexuality; cultural connections through religion, science, music, and sport; ligaments of globalization including rubber, drugs, and the automobile; and moments of particular importance from the Atlantic Revolutions to 1989.

This book explores the links among ecology, disease, and international politics in the context of the Greater Caribbean - the landscapes lying between Surinam and the Chesapeake - in the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries. Ecological changes made these landscapes especially suitable for the vector mosquitoes of yellow fever and malaria, and these diseases wrought systematic havoc among armies and would-be settlers. Because yellow fever confers immunity on survivors of the disease, and because malaria confers resistance, these diseases played partisan roles in the struggles for empire and revolution, attacking some populations more severely than others. In particular, yellow fever and malaria attacked newcomers to the region, which helped keep the Spanish Empire Spanish in the face of predatory rivals in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century, these diseases helped revolutions to succeed by decimating forces sent out from Europe to prevent them.

This book explores the links among ecology, disease, and international politics in the context of the Greater Caribbean - the landscapes lying between Surinam and the Chesapeake - in the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries. Ecological changes made these landscapes especially suitable for the vector mosquitoes of yellow fever and malaria, and these diseases wrought systematic havoc among armies and would-be settlers. Because yellow fever confers immunity on survivors of the disease, and because malaria confers resistance, these diseases played partisan roles in the struggles for empire and revolution, attacking some populations more severely than others. In particular, yellow fever and malaria attacked newcomers to the region, which helped keep the Spanish Empire Spanish in the face of predatory rivals in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century, these diseases helped revolutions to succeed by decimating forces sent out from Europe to prevent them.

This book describes and analyses the environmental history of the mountain areas of the Mediterranean world, focusing on Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Morocco. The author examines the land and its people and concludes that great changes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries created the often barren and depopulated countrysides of today. These changes, he suggests, lie behind much of the social and political turbulence of modern times as mountain people came to terms with worsening conditions. Written in a lively style, the book is the first environmental history of the Mediterranean area.

Environmental Histories of the Cold War explores the links between the Cold War and the global environment, ranging from the environmental impacts of nuclear weapons to the political repercussions of environmentalism. Environmental change accelerated sharply during the Cold War years, and so did environmentalism as both a popular movement and a scientific preoccupation. Most Cold War history entirely overlooks this rise of environmentalism and the crescendo of environmental change. These historical subjects were not only simultaneous but also linked together in ways both straightforward and surprising. The contributors to this book present these connected issues as a global phenomenon, with chapters concerning China, the USSR, Europe, North America, Oceania, and elsewhere. The role of experts as agents and advocates of using the environment as a weapon in the Cold War or, contrastingly, of preventing environmental damage resulting from Cold War politics is also given broad attention.

This exciting new reader in environmental history provides a framework for understanding the relations between ecosystems and world-systems over time. Alf Hornborg, J. R. McNeill, and Joan Martinez-Alier have brought together a group of the prominent social scientists, historians, and geographical scientists to provide a historical overview of the ecological dimension of global economic processes. Readers are challenged to integrate studies of the Earth-system with studies of the world-system, and to reconceptualize the relations between human beings and their environment, as well as the challenges of global sustainability.

This exciting new reader in environmental history provides a framework for understanding the relations between ecosystems and world-systems over time. Alf Hornborg, J. R. McNeill, and Joan Martinez-Alier have brought together a group of the prominent social scientists, historians, and geographical scientists to provide a historical overview of the ecological dimension of global economic processes. Readers are challenged to integrate studies of the Earth-system with studies of the world-system, and to reconceptualize the relations between human beings and their environment, as well as the challenges of global sustainability.

Since 1750, the world has become ever more connected, with processes of production and destruction no longer limited by land- or water-based modes of transport and communication. Volume 7 of the Cambridge World History series, divided into two books, offers a variety of angles of vision on the increasingly interconnected history of humankind. The first book examines structures, spaces, and processes within which and through which the modern world was created, including the environment, energy, technology, population, disease, law, industrialization, imperialism, decolonization, nationalism, and socialism, along with key world regions.

Environmental Histories of the Cold War explores the links between the Cold War and the global environment, ranging from the environmental impacts of nuclear weapons to the political repercussions of environmentalism. Environmental change accelerated sharply during the Cold War years, and so did environmentalism as both a popular movement and a scientific preoccupation. Most Cold War history entirely overlooks this rise of environmentalism and the crescendo of environmental change. These historical subjects were not only simultaneous but also linked together in ways both straightforward and surprising. The contributors to this book present these connected issues as a global phenomenon, with chapters concerning China, the USSR, Europe, North America, Oceania, and elsewhere. The role of experts as agents and advocates of using the environment as a weapon in the Cold War or, contrastingly, of preventing environmental damage resulting from Cold War politics is also given broad attention.

Since 1750, the world has become ever more connected, with processes of production and destruction no longer limited by land- or water-based modes of transport and communication. Volume 7 of the Cambridge World History series, divided into two books, offers a variety of angles of vision on the increasingly interconnected history of humankind. The first book examines structures, spaces, and processes within which and through which the modern world was created, including the environment, energy, technology, population, disease, law, industrialization, imperialism, decolonization, nationalism, and socialism, along with key world regions.

Since 1750, the world has become ever more connected, with processes of production and destruction no longer limited by land- or water-based modes of transport and communication. Volume 7 of the Cambridge World History series, divided into two books, offers a variety of angles of vision on the increasingly interconnected history of humankind. The second book questions the extent to which the transformations of the modern world have been shared, focusing on social developments such as urbanization, migration, and changes in family and sexuality; cultural connections through religion, science, music, and sport; ligaments of globalization including rubber, drugs, and the automobile; and moments of particular importance from the Atlantic Revolutions to 1989.

This anthology surveys the ecological impacts of the First World War. Editors Richard P. Tucker, Tait Keller, J. R. McNeill, and Martin Schmidt bring together a list of experienced authors who explore the global interactions of states, armies, civilians, and the environment during the war. They show how the First World War ushered in enormous environmental changes, including the devastation of rural and urban environments, the consumption of strategic natural resources such as metals and petroleum, the impact of war on urban industry, and the disruption of agricultural landscapes leading to widespread famine. Taking a global perspective, Environmental Histories of the First World War presents the ecological consequences of the vast destructive power of the new weaponry and the close collaboration between militaries and civilian governments taking place during this time, showing how this war set trends for the rest of the century.

This anthology surveys the ecological impacts of the First World War. Editors Richard P. Tucker, Tait Keller, J. R. McNeill, and Martin Schmidt bring together a list of experienced authors who explore the global interactions of states, armies, civilians, and the environment during the war. They show how the First World War ushered in enormous environmental changes, including the devastation of rural and urban environments, the consumption of strategic natural resources such as metals and petroleum, the impact of war on urban industry, and the disruption of agricultural landscapes leading to widespread famine. Taking a global perspective, Environmental Histories of the First World War presents the ecological consequences of the vast destructive power of the new weaponry and the close collaboration between militaries and civilian governments taking place during this time, showing how this war set trends for the rest of the century.

The Companion to Global Environmental History offers multiple points of entry into the history and historiography of this dynamic and fast-growing field, to provide an essential road map to past developments, current controversies, and future developments for specialists and newcomers alike. Combines temporal, geographic, thematic and contextual approaches from prehistory to the present dayExplores environmental thought and action around the world, to give readers a cultural, intellectual and political context for engagement with the environment in modern timesBrings together environmental historians from around the world, including scholars from South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and China

A COMPANION TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYEquips both specialists and newcomers with the historical, intellectual, and political context for engagement with the environmentProviding multiple points of entry into a dynamic, fast-growing field, A Companion to Global Environmental History explores the many contours of the relationship between human societies and the natural world on which they depend. Bringing together essays by an international roster of both established experts and emerging scholars, this volume covers a uniquely broad range of temporal, geographic, thematic, and contextual approaches to the practice of global environmental history.Thirty-three detailed chapters describe how the relationship between society and nature has changed over time, examine the various drivers of change and environmental transformations, survey different types of environmental thought and action around the world, and more.Now in its second edition, the Companion is fully revised to reflect major research developments and new trajectories within the field. Updated chapters that present new evidence for longstanding debates and innovative applications of environmental history are accompanied by six entirely new chapters on India, China, Africa, early modern cities, global environmental governance, and European environmentalism.Offering fresh insights into environmental thought, culture, policy, and politics, A Companion to Global Environmental History, Second Edition, is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and an invaluable reference for scholars, researchers, and environmental historians.

A COMPANION TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYEquips both specialists and newcomers with the historical, intellectual, and political context for engagement with the environmentProviding multiple points of entry into a dynamic, fast-growing field, A Companion to Global Environmental History explores the many contours of the relationship between human societies and the natural world on which they depend. Bringing together essays by an international roster of both established experts and emerging scholars, this volume covers a uniquely broad range of temporal, geographic, thematic, and contextual approaches to the practice of global environmental history.Thirty-three detailed chapters describe how the relationship between society and nature has changed over time, examine the various drivers of change and environmental transformations, survey different types of environmental thought and action around the world, and more.Now in its second edition, the Companion is fully revised to reflect major research developments and new trajectories within the field. Updated chapters that present new evidence for longstanding debates and innovative applications of environmental history are accompanied by six entirely new chapters on India, China, Africa, early modern cities, global environmental governance, and European environmentalism.Offering fresh insights into environmental thought, culture, policy, and politics, A Companion to Global Environmental History, Second Edition, is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and an invaluable reference for scholars, researchers, and environmental historians.

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.The bestselling Full Edition offers a large trim size with extensive pedagogy and visuals

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.The bestselling Full Edition offers a large trim size with extensive pedagogy and visuals

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.The bestselling Full Edition offers a large trim size with extensive pedagogy and visuals

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.The Seagull Edition offers the complete text of the Full edition in full color, with fewer illustrations and maps, in a portable trim size for an unbeatable price.

McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a refreshingly clear view of world history through the lens of connective “webs” of interaction—along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In response to helpful instructor feedback, McNeill has made the Second Edition easier to fit into the standard two-term sequence, with more emphasis on the kinds of connections and comparisons that world history instructors want students to make. He also dramatically expanded primary source offerings and strengthened coverage of Indigenous peoples throughout. Students have flocked to the affordable ebook—and with the Second Edition, this format will provide increased support through embedded assessment and engaging author videos.The Seagull Edition offers the complete text of the Full edition in full color, with fewer illustrations and maps, in a portable trim size for an unbeatable price.

Humans have long transformed the planet, scratching its surface for stones and ores, planting and harvesting crops, sparking fires for light and heat. But since the dawn of industrialisation and especially since 1950, economic, technological and demographic changes have driven rapid and ongoing shifts in patterns of pollution, human health and rising sea level and temperatures.Something New Under the Sun offers a new way to understand twentieth-century history: through environmental change. Threading lucid scientific explanations with captivating stories, J. R. McNeill’s prize-winning history chronicles humanity’s deepening imprint on the planet in an even-handed account that seeks, above all, to explain. With updated data, stories and new discussions of climate change and climate politics, this paperback edition remains the definitive account of the most urgent topic of our time.

The Companion to Global Environmental History offers multiple points of entry into the history and historiography of this dynamic and fast-growing field, to provide an essential road map to past developments, current controversies, and future developments for specialists and newcomers alike. Combines temporal, geographic, thematic and contextual approaches from prehistory to the present dayExplores environmental thought and action around the world, to give readers a cultural, intellectual and political context for engagement with the environment in modern timesBrings together environmental historians from around the world, including scholars from South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and China

The fate of towns and cities stands at the center of the environmental history of World War II. As the first major study at the intersection of environmental, urban, and military history, The Resilient City in World War II lays the groundwork for an improved understanding of rapid change in urban environments, and how societies may adapt.