Go to Special Sales HBG USA Home Special Sales HBG USA

The Little Ice Age

How Climate Made History 1300-1850

The Little Ice Age Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Brian Fagan

Buy from Other Retailers:

On Sale
Nov 26, 2019
Page Count
288 pages
Publisher
Basic Books
ISBN-13
9781541618572

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.

Genre:

  • “Fagan shows in this wonderful book how vulnerable human society is to climatic zigzags.”
    New Scientist
  • “A fascinating account of events both obscure and well known… as seen through the lens of weather and its effect on harvests.”
    Foreign Affairs
  • “A highly readable and erudite analysis.”
    Guardian (UK)
  • “Even without the contemporary relevance lent the book by the specter of global warming, The Little Ice Age would be an engrossing historical volume.”
    Boston Globe
  • “The Little Ice Age could do for the historical study of climate what Foucault's Madness and Civilization did for the historical study of mental illness: make it a respectable subject for scholarly inquiry.”
    Scientific American
  • “Even without the contemporary relevance lent to the book by the specter of global warming, The Little Ice Age would be an engrossing historical volume.”
    South Florida Sun-Sentinel
  • “A nimble, lively, provocative book.”
    Booklist

Formats and Prices

Price

$12.99

Price

$16.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $12.99 $16.99 CAD
  2. Trade Paperback (Revised) $18.99 $24.99 CAD

You May Also Like

Climate Chaos
Climate Chaos $30.00 $38.00 CAD
Eco Revolution
Eco Revolution $19.99 $25.99 CAD
Science Under Siege
Science Under Siege $32.00 $42.00 CAD
Atomic Dreams
Atomic Dreams $30.00 $38.00 CAD
Our Fragile Moment
Our Fragile Moment $19.99 $25.99 CAD

Brian Fagan

About the Author

Brian Fagan is one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on world prehistory. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of several widely read books on ancient climate change. He has lectured about the subject to audiences large and small throughout the world. His latest book is Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization (Yale University Press, 2018).

Learn more about this author