Floods, Famines, and Emperors

Floods, Famines, and Emperors

Author: Brian Fagan

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2009-02-10

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0786727683

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In 1997 and early 1998, one of the most powerful El Ninos ever recorded disrupted weather patterns all over the world. Europe suffered through a record freeze as the American West was hit with massive floods and snowstorms; in the western Pacific, meanwhile, some island nations literally went bone dry and had to have water flown in on transport planes. Such effects are not new: climatologists now know the El Nino and other climate anomalies have been disrupting weather patterns throughout history. But until recently, no one had asked how this new understanding of the global weather system related to archaeology and history. Droughts, floods, heat and cold put stress on cultures and force them to adapt. What determines whether they adapt successfully? How do these climate stresses affect a people's faith in the foundations of their society and the legitimacy of their rulers? How vulnerable is our own society to climate change? In this dazzlingly original new book, archaeologist Brian Fagan shows that short-term climate shifts have been a major -- and hitherto unrecognized -- force in history. El Nino-driven droughts have brought on the collapse of dynasties in Egypt; El Nino monsoon failures have caused historic famines in India; and El Nino floods have destroyed whole civilizations in Peru. Other short-term climate changes may have caused the mysterious abandonment of the Anasazi dwellings in the American Southwest and the collapse of the ancient Maya empire, as well as changed the course of European history. This beautifully written, groundbreaking book opens a new door on our understanding of historical events.


The Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age

Author: Brian Fagan

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2019-11-26

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1541618572

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Only in the last decade have climatologists developed an accurate picture of yearly climate conditions in historical times. This development confirmed a long-standing suspicion: that the world endured a 500-year cold snap -- The Little Ice Age -- that lasted roughly from A.D. 1300 until 1850. The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable and often very cold years of modern European history, how climate altered historical events, and what they mean in the context of today's global warming. With its basis in cutting-edge science, The Little Ice Age offers a new perspective on familiar events. Renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold affected Norse exploration; how changing sea temperatures caused English and Basque fishermen to follow vast shoals of cod all the way to the New World; how a generations-long subsistence crisis in France contributed to social disintegration and ultimately revolution; and how English efforts to improve farm productivity in the face of a deteriorating climate helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution and hence for global warming. This is a fascinating, original book for anyone interested in history, climate, or the new subject of how they interact.


The Empire of Climate

The Empire of Climate

Author: David N. Livingstone

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-04-16

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 0691236712

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How the specter of climate has been used to explain history since antiquity Scientists, journalists, and politicians increasingly tell us that human impacts on climate constitute the single greatest threat facing our planet and may even bring about the extinction of our species. Yet behind these anxieties lies an older, much deeper fear about the power that climate exerts over us. The Empire of Climate traces the history of this idea and its pervasive influence over how we interpret world events and make sense of the human condition, from the rise and fall of ancient civilizations to the afflictions of the modern psyche. Taking readers from the time of Hippocrates to the unfolding crisis of global warming today, David Livingstone reveals how climate has been critically implicated in the politics of imperial control and race relations; been used to explain industrial development, market performance, and economic breakdown; and served as a bellwether for national character and cultural collapse. He examines how climate has been put forward as an explanation for warfare and civil conflict, and how it has been identified as a critical factor in bodily disorders and acute psychosis. A panoramic work of scholarship, The Empire of Climate maps the tangled histories of an idea that has haunted our collective imagination for centuries, shedding critical light on the notion that everything from the wealth of nations to the human mind itself is subject to climate’s imperial rule.


Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World

Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World

Author: Philip Gooding

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-05-23

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 3030981983

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This book explores histories of droughts and floods in the Indian Ocean World, and their connections to broader global climatic anomalies. It deploys an interdisciplinary approach rooted in the emerging field of climate history to investigate the multifaceted effects of global climatic anomalies on regions affected by the Indian Ocean Monsoon System – regularly conceived of as the macro-region’s ‘deep structure.’ Case studies explore how droughts and floods related to anomalous climatic conditions have historically affected states, societies, and ecologies across the Indian Ocean World, including in relation to food security, epidemic diseases, political (in)stability, economic change, infrastructural development, colonialism, capitalism, and scientific knowledge. Tracing longue durée patterns from the twelfth to the early twentieth centuries, this book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of global climatic events and their effects on the Indian Ocean World. It highlights essential historical case studies for contextualizing the potential effects of global warming on the macro-region in the present and future.


Floods

Floods

Author: Michael Woods

Publisher: LernerClassroom

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 0822568659

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A flood can occur instantly, from ocean waves that wash over land. Or it can begin slowly, with a rainfall lasting many hours. Regardless, terrible disasters can occur whenever too much water rushes into or slowly gathers in the wrong place. Rushing water can sweep buildings off foundations. People must quickly leave their homes and possessions to seek safety. Some drown before they can escape. With dramatic images and firsthand survivor stories plus the latest facts and figures this book shows you flood disasters up close.


Floods, Flash Floods, and Mudslides

Floods, Flash Floods, and Mudslides

Author: G. S. Prentzas

Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Published: 2006-01-15

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 9781404205345

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Looks at where floods and mudslides are likely to happen and how to prepare for and survive them.


Climate Change and the Health of Nations

Climate Change and the Health of Nations

Author: Anthony J. McMichael

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0190262958

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When we think "climate change," we think of man-made global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions. But natural climate change has occurred throughout human history, and populations have had to adapt to its vicissitudes. Tony McMichael, a renowned epidemiologist and a pioneer in the field of how human health relates to climate change, is the ideal guide to this phenomenon, and in his magisterial Climate Change and the Health of Nations, he presents a sweeping and authoritative analysis of how human societies have been shaped by climate events.


God's Family, God's Earth

God's Family, God's Earth

Author: Kaoma, Kapya J.

Publisher: Kachere Series

Published: 2014-01-16

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9990802629

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This book explores how the mounting ecological crisis has religious, political, and economic roots that enable and promote social and environmental harm. It presents the thesis that religious traditions, including their ethical expressions, can effectively address the crisis, ameliorate its effects, and advocate social and environmental betterment, now and in the future. The ecological overtones of African traditional religions and Christianity are examined along with a discussion on African morality. Recognition is given to the conflict between ecological values and religious teachings in an examination contrasting the awareness of socio-economic problems caused by overpopulation.


Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change

Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change

Author: Michael Collier

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0816547513

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No one in America would deny that the weather has changed drastically in our lifetime. We read about El Niño and La Niña, but how many of us really understand the big picture beyond our own front windows or even the headlines on the Weather Channel? Hydrologists and climatologists have long been aware of the role of regional climate in predicting floods and understanding droughts. But with our growing sense of a variable climate, it is important to reassess these natural disasters not as isolated events but as related phenomena. This book shows that floods and droughts don't happen by accident but are the products of patterns of wind, temperature, and precipitation that produce meteorologic extremes. It introduces the mechanics of global weather, puts these processes into the longer-term framework of climate, and then explores the evolution of climatic patterns through time to show that floods and droughts, once considered isolated "acts of God," are often related events driven by the same forces that shape the entire atmosphere. Michael Collier and Robert Webb offer a fresh, insightful look at what we know about floods, droughts, and climate variability—and their impact on people—in an easy-to-read text, with dramatic photos, that assumes no previous understanding of climate processes. They emphasize natural, long-term mechanisms of climate change, explaining how floods and droughts relate to climate variability over years and decades. They also show the human side of some of the most destructive weather disasters in history. As Collier and Webb ably demonstrate, "climate" may not be the smooth continuum of meteorologic possibilities we supposed but rather the sum of multiple processes operating both regionally and globally on different time scales. Amid the highly politicized discussion of our changing environment, Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change offers a straightforward scientific account of weather crises that can help students and general readers better understand the causes of climate variability and the consequences for their lives.