CLIMATE, MAN, AND HISTORY: An Irreverent Look at the Human Environment

by Robert Claiborne ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 1970

Claiborne's caveat in the preface to this thoroughgoing study of climate and culture is that he's going to venture some opinions of his own, attack others', and, in general, try to dispel the fog that has enveloped many scientific studies of man in nature. He does this somewhat modestly at the beginning, coping with the complex, often conflicting theories on the causes, conditions, and timing of the last ice ages, and then increasingly with a more idiosyncratic style and sharper tongue. It's an impressive achievement flawed at times by too great elaboration of detail and some occasional heavy-handed humor. The content of the 40-odd chapters takes Claiborne from the macroscopic and prehistoric view of world climate down to minilooks at New York City or Cape Cod (a favorite stomping ground) today. The origin of man in the African savanna, the passage from nomad to farmer to city builder, are beautifully described in relation to the terrains and climes where they first occurred. Likewise the isolation of China, the ruined lands of Mesopotamia, the destruction of the Indus Valley civilization, the lack of stock herds in Middle America are correlated with climatological events and man's behavior. In later chapters Claiborne deals delightfully with race theories, with the Viking ""mafia,"" speculates about the piratical origins of western European merchants, constructs a House-that-Jack-Built theory about herring and Hitler and performs sundry other talented, if not always related, acts. But it is a vaudeville well worth the price of admission--even offering a moral as well.

Pub Date: May 25, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION