Overview
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 industrialization and especially since 1950, our impact has accelerated sharply. Economic, technological, and demographic changes have driven rapid and ongoing shifts in patterns of pollution, human health, and rising sea level and temperatures. In his landmark publication Something New Under the Sun, acclaimed historian J. R. McNeill offered a new way to understand twentieth-century history: through environmental change. Threading lucid scientific explanations with captivating stories, McNeill's prize-winning history chronicles humanity's deepening imprint on the planet in an evenhanded account that seeks, above all, to explain. With updated data and stories, and new discussions of climate change and climate politics, Something New Under the Sun remains the definitive account of the most urgent topic of our time.
Reviews
A monumental, important, and timely work of interdisciplinary scholarship, written to be accessible to anyone interested in the relationship between our species and the planet that supports us.--Chris Lavers ""The Guardian"" Both sweeping and specific, scholarly and readable.--Elizabeth Kolbert ""The New Yorker"" Refreshingly unpolemical and at times even witty, McNeill's book brims with carefully sifted statistics and brilliant details.-- ""Washington Post"" This scientifically informed survey makes a useful resource for environmentalists, scholars, globalists, biologists, policy makers and concerned readers.-- ""Publishers Weekly""
""Both sweeping and specific, scholarly and readable."" -- Elizabeth Kolbert - The New Yorker ""Refreshingly unpolemical and at times even witty, McNeill's book brims with carefully sifted statistics and brilliant details."" -- The Washington Post ""A monumental, important, and timely work of interdisciplinary scholarship, written to be accessible to anyone interested in the relationship between our species and the planet that supports us."" -- Chris Lavers - The Guardian ""This scientifically informed survey makes a useful resource for environmentalists, scholars, globalists, biologists, policy makers and concerned readers."" -- Publishers Weekly
""One of those rare books that’s both sweeping and specific, scholarly and readable…What makes the book stand out is its wealth of historical detail."" -- Elizabeth Kolbert - The New Yorker ""Refreshingly unpolemical and at times even witty, McNeill's book brims with carefully sifted statistics and brilliant details."" -- The Washington Post ""A monumental, important, and timely work of interdisciplinary scholarship, written to be accessible to anyone interested in the relationship between our species and the planet that supports us."" -- Chris Lavers - The Guardian
Author Information
J. R. McNeill is Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University. The author of award-winning works in world and environmental history, he has served as president of the American Society for Environmental History and the American Historical Association. He lives in Maryland. Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian at Brown University, specializing in the United States and Russia, and in the history of energy and past climates. She has lived in and studied Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America.
