Humanity evolved in an Ice Age in which glaciers covered much of the world. But starting about 15;000 years ago; temperatures began to climb. Civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period; the era known as the Holocene-the long summer of the human species. In The Long Summer; Brian Fagan brings us the first detailed record of climate change during these 15;000 years of warming; and shows how this climate change gave rise to civilization. A thousand-year chill led people in the Near East to take up the cultivation of plant foods; a catastrophic flood drove settlers to inhabit Europe; the drying of the Sahara forced its inhabitants to live along the banks of the Nile; and increased rainfall in East Africa provoked the bubonic plague. The Long Summer illuminates for the first time the centuries-long pattern of human adaptation to the demands and challenges of an ever-changing climate-challenges that are still with us today.
#734751 in Books 2008-03-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.07 x 5.38 x 8.07l; 1.10 #File Name: 0465002129304 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. excellent read. learn about DrBy KIPexcellent read. learn about Dr. King the man instead of Dr. King the icon and the significance of his death for the nation. also discusses the inner circle of Dr. King; Obama presidential campaign; the Clinton years; the State of Black America; Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Remarkable account of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movementBy CustomerA remarkable contribution to the history of the civil rights movement and this terrible moment by a leading historian..0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Superb AnalysisBy michael cheersMichael Eric Dyson continues to articulate why he is one of our country's most prolific public intellectuals. Those who care deeply about understanding Dr. King and his last days will enjoy reading Dyson's clear thinking and critical analysis on this period in American history; and of those leaders who emerged after Dr. King's death on April 4; 1968.
