Something New Under the Sun – An Environmental History of the Twentieth–Century World - Hardcover

Mcneill, J R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393049175 ISBN 13: 9780393049176

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 2000

Synopsis

A landmark work of environmental history told in an absorbing narrative style. J. R. McNeill's startling history explores the massive change we have brought to our physical world in this century. To a degree unprecedented in human history, we have refashioned the very air, water, and soil we inhabit. McNeill tells this story with a keen eye for character and a refreshing respect for the unforeseen in history. He tells us of Thomas Midgely, the chemical engineer who indirectly did more damage to the atmosphere than any other human being: Midgely discovered that adding lead to gasoline made it burn better, and he followed that breakthrough with the invention of Freon, which ruptures the ozone layer when it drifts into the stratosphere. Also surprising, but more hopeful, is the story of how Japan transformed itself from a polluter's paradise through 1965 to a country of clean air twenty years later without sacrificing economic performance. Through his history of people and the planet in this global century, McNeill shows us that environmental degradation is reversible, and historical change open-ended. This is a volume in The Global Century Series, general editor, Paul Kennedy.

About this title

Review:

Humanity has consumed 10 times more energy since 1900 than in the previous thousand years. John McNeill will probably not appreciate reviewers pointing out this crude, back-of-an-envelope calculation of his, but I suspect he will have to get used to it. It is an extraordinary statistic, and one that should give all who care about the future of our planet pause for thought. People also move more rock and earth around the world than wind, glaciers, mountain-building processes or volcanoes. Only water remains a more effective agent of erosion--just. So numerous and powerful have people become in the twentieth century that we now collectively rank as a geological process.

The first part of Something New Under The Sun details these amazing facts, figures and estimates as McNeill guides the reader through the impact of 20th-century humans on the earth's geology, soils, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The second part explores the political, economic and social factors that have led to these impacts. This is a monumental work of multidisciplinary scholarship that should earn McNeill the respect of academics and public alike. The author makes few judgements about the future of our planet, and fewer still about the wisdom of our twentieth century activities, a philosophical position that lends a certain blandness to the text in places. However, as a contribution to a field of study riddled with ideology and polarised, empirically questionable opinions, Something New Under The Sun is a breath of fresh air. --Chris Lavers

About the Author:

J. R. McNeill is professor of history at Georgetown University. He is the author of The Mountains of the Mediterranean World and other works.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0393049175
• ISBN 13: 9780393049176
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416