Die Welt aus den Angeln : eine Geschichte der Kleinen Eiszeit von 1570 bis 1700 sowie der Entstehung der modernen Welt, verbunden mit einigen Überlegungen zum Klima der Gegenwart

by Philipp Blom

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

NN 1540 B653

Genres

Collection

Wien

Publication

München: Carl Hanser Verlag

Description

"An illuminating work of environmental history that chronicles the great climate crisis of the 1600s, which transformed the social and political fabric of Europe. Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the sixteenth century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and "frost fairs" were erected on a frozen Thames--with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this "Little Ice Age," acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had suddenly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, they gave rise to the growth of European cities, the emergence of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment. A timely examination of how a society responds to profound and unexpected change, Nature's Mutiny will transform the way we think about climate change in the twenty-first century and beyond."--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Shrike58

There are basically two ways to approach this book, which is essentially an extended essay. On one hand, you can basically treat it as a potted history of how the Little Ice Age of the subtitle was a hammer that broke the Medieval mindset and opened the way to the Enlightenment and market values

that, twenty or so years ago, seemed to represent the "end of history." However, Blom, who wrote this book as a way of understanding how societies respond to global climate changes, suggests that the our much-celebrated market and rationalist values should be understood as a very manicured version of the intellectual ferment of the "long" seventeenth century, and that the way forward is going to depend on setting aside cultural triumphalism and engaging in some hard-headed engagement with the world as it is, which would entail, at the very least, a more modest understanding of our personal place in the world. Otherwise Humanity would seem to be in store for another war of all against all.

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LibraryThing member Stbalbach

Nature's Mutiny by German historian Philipp Blom is reminiscent of a Jared Diamond book. He asks a question about our modern day and looks back on history for parallels to test a 'natural experiment'. Blom asks, if the climate is rapidly changing, how does society respond? He picks the Little Ice

Age as it as the last time the climate changed rapidly, about 2 C colder during a roughly 100 year period. He chooses Europe because of the documentation available and his professional background. What he proposes is society become more mercantile orientated because of increased globalization which was a survival response to the failed harvests and other conditions that made life more difficult, requiring expanded trade to bring in resources needed. Capitalism, rationalism, science were all responses to a more difficult environment. Of course it is not that simple there were contingencies specific to Europe, other places in the world didn't respond this way. So it's hard to say what one can really conclude from Blom's investigation. Nevertheless it is an interesting overview of various aspects of the 17th century, anything by Blom is worth reading.

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