A New Green History Of The World

Sep 20, 2024 8:07 PM

Author:Clive Ponting

Like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, Clive Ponting's book studies the relationship between the environment and human history. It examines world civilisations from Sumeria to ancient Egypt, from Easter Island to the Roman Empire and it argues that human beings have repeatedly built societies that have grown and prospered by exploiting the Earth's resources, only to expand to the point where those resources could no longer sustain the societies' populations and cause subsequent collapse.

This new edition of Clive Ponting's international bestseller has been revised, expanded and updated. It provides not only a compelling story of how we have damaged the environment for thousands of years but also an up-to-the-minute assessment of the crisis facing the world today - and the problems that have to be addressed in the search for solutions.

Reviews

If there is a single book on the subject to engage the enthusiast, silence the cynic and enlighten the ignoramus, this is it

—— Observer

Ponting's re-evaluation of history is an important antidote to mental troglodytism. It also makes a welcome change from the scatter-gun apocalypse-mongering which has become standard fare in green literature. With luck and foresight, and more books like this, we may yet learn our lesson

—— Independent on Sunday

Pioneering...a book good enough to rival the best American products in the field... Clive Ponting has embraced a daunting task with commendable success

—— Times Literary Supplement

An ambitious and thought-provoking attempt to rewrite history from an ecological standpoint

—— Independent

Large, ambitious and often enthralling, it is a successful attempt to look at the unfolding of world history from an entirely new perspective

—— Literary Review

The genius of Philip Roth...back at his imperious best in this heartbreaking tale... The eloquence of Roth's storytelling makes Nemesis one of his most haunting works

—— Daily Mail

Cantor is one of Roth's best creations and the atmosphere of terror is masterfully fashioned

—— Tibor Fischer , Sunday Telegraph

Very fine, very unsettling

—— Douglas Kennedy , The Times

A perfectly proportioned Greek tragedy played out against the background of the polio epidemic that swept Newark, New Jersey, during the summer of 1944

—— Adrian Turpin , Financial Times

Outstanding

—— Sunday Times

A 2011 favourite

—— Wendy Cope , Observer, Books of the Year

The year's most unusual travel book

—— Tom Chesshyre , The Times

[An] eye-opening and hugely enjoyable book

—— Daily Telegraph

Written in a delectable prose that scatters flashes of poetry over a sardonic undertow of social comment, Edgelands is a lyrical triumph. On Britain’s grotty margins, the duo trace “desire paths” to find beauty and mystery in the rough darkness on the edge of town

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

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