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Palgrave Macmillan

The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sam White

    1. Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Christian Pfister

    1. Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Franz Mauelshagen

    1. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

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  • Responds to current global warming concerns and explores the history of climate changes

  • Explores both weather and climate history in its relationship with human history

  • Brings together scholars from the humanities and the sciences to explore climate history

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Table of contents (38 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
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  2. General Introduction: Weather, Climate, and Human History

    • Christian Pfister, Sam White, Franz Mauelshagen
    Pages 1-17

  3. Reconstruction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
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    2. The Global Climate System

      • Eduardo Zorita, Sebastian Wagner, Fredrik Schenk
      Pages 21-26

    3. Archives of Nature and Archives of Societies

      • Stefan Brönnimann, Christian Pfister, Sam White
      Pages 27-36

    4. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Documentary Evidence—Overview

      • Christian Pfister
      Pages 37-47

    5. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Personal Documentary Sources

      • Christian Pfister, Sam White
      Pages 49-65

    6. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Institutional Sources

      • Christian Pfister
      Pages 67-81

    7. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Early Instrumental Observations

      • Dario Camuffo
      Pages 83-92

    8. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Historical Sources in Glaciology

      • Samuel U. Nussbaumer, Heinz J. Zumbühl
      Pages 93-97

    9. Analysis and Interpretation: Homogenization of Instrumental Data

      • Ingeborg Auer
      Pages 99-105

    10. Analysis and Interpretation: Calibration-Verification

      • Petr Dobrovolný
      Pages 107-113

    11. Analysis and Interpretation: Temperature and Precipitation Indices

      • Christian Pfister, Chantal Camenisch, Petr Dobrovolný
      Pages 115-129

    12. Analysis and Interpretation: Spatial Climate Field Reconstructions

      • Jürg Luterbacher, Eduardo Zorita
      Pages 131-139

    13. Analysis and Interpretation: Modeling of Past Climates

      • Eduardo Zorita, Sebastian Wagner
      Pages 141-148

    14. The Denial of Global Warming

      • Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, David J. Karoly, Joelle Gergis, Urs Neu, Christian Pfister
      Pages 149-171

  4. Historical Climatology: Periods and Regions

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173
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    2. The Holocene

      • John L. Brooke
      Pages 175-182

    3. Mediterranean Antiquity

      • Peregrine Horden
      Pages 183-188

    4. China: 2000 Years of Climate Reconstruction from Historical Documents

      • Quansheng Ge, Zhixin Hao, Jingyun Zheng, Yang Liu
      Pages 189-201
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Keywords

About this book

This handbook offers the first comprehensive, state-of-the-field guide to past weather and climate and their role in human societies. Bringing together dozens of international specialists from the sciences and humanities, this volume describes the methods, sources, and major findings of historical climate reconstruction and impact research.  Its chapters take the reader through each key source of past climate and weather information and each technique of analysis; through each historical period and region of the world; through the major topics of climate and history and core case studies; and finally through the history of climate ideas and science. Using clear, non-technical language, The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History serves as a textbook for students, a reference guide for specialists and an introduction to climate history for scholars and interested readers.

Reviews

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2019

“They provide the most comprehensive treatment to date of historical climate and society interactions and should serve as an excellent source for a range of readers interested in this emerging topic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.” (J. Schoof, Choice, Vol. 56 (7), March, 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Sam White

  • Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

    Christian Pfister

  • Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Franz Mauelshagen

About the editors

Sam White is Associate Professor of Environmental History at the Ohio State University, USA and author of the award-winning book The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (2011), among other publications. He is also co-founder and director of the Climate History Network.


Christian Pfister is Professor Emeritus and Senior Researcher at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He has published 11 books and more than 200 articles. He is co-founder of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH).


Franz Mauelshagen is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. He has published several books, including the award-winning Wunderkammer auf Papier (A Cabinet of Curiosities on Paper, 2011), and more than 50 articles on the history of science, disasters, climate, and the Anthropocene. 

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