The Empire of Climate

A History of an Idea

David N. Livingstone

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
01 September 2024

Social & cultural history; Historical geography; History of science; Global warming

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 civilisations 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.

By: David N. Livingstone
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691236704
ISBN 10: 0691236704
Pages: 552
Publication Date: 01 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

David N. Livingstone is professor emeritus of geography and intellectual history at Queen's University Belfast. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His many books include Putting Science in Its Place: Geographies of Scientific Knowledge; Dealing with Darwin: Place, Politics, and Rhetoric in Religious Engagements with Evolution; and Adam's Ancestors: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Human Origins.

Reviews for The Empire of Climate: A History of an Idea

""A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year"" ""[A] sweeping chronicle. . . . Livingstone’s consummate analysis drives home how blaming people’s behavior on climate risks repeating the imperious and racist justifications for colonialism and slavery."" * Publishers Weekly * ""[A] fascinating study. . . . Highly recommended."" * Choice * ""Brilliant and multifaceted.""---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer ""An invaluable starting point for geographers, historians and those within and beyond the academy interested in the long history – and present and future – of assigning historical causality to climate. Frankly, this needs to be all of us.""---Lachlan Fleetwood, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History