The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization

I got interested in Brian Fagan's work because of an interest in climate change and another in archeology, which he combines to great effect in _The Long Summer_, as well as his other books, such as _The Little Ice Age_. He takes the paleoclimatological data that the researchers are developing as they study the process of global warming and climate change, and then applies it directly to the information we have from archeology and history of different cultures around the world. The result is a fascinating and new perspective on how shifting climate factors affect weather, and how that in turn contributes to the growth and collapse of cultures around the world.While these books are intended for a general audience, and Dr. Fagan clearly explains the science behind his narratives as he goes along, they are an important window into the possibilities that may face us in the future. Past cultures were unaware of the warming and cooling shifts of climate, which drove periods of harsh and unpredictable weather contributing to disasters, starvation, and the fall of governments. This provides a cautionary tale to us in the present, that we ignore the past and the present at our peril.I recommend _The Long Summer_ to anyone interested in how the conditions after the Ice Age led to the rise and flourishing of civilizations around the world, and how subsequent changes contributed to their fall. It's a fascinating read.

It is a very interesting book. The opposite of dry and academic. I had expected a rather dry thesis on one cycle of drought. Instead, it is a fastcinating history of climate. It includes how climatic shifts forced the proto European peoples to move into Europe and then into the British Isles. I learned just how recently the Sahara still received enough rainfall for livestock grazing. I also realized that some of the struggles in the Old Testament were caused by droughts and the civilization falls that followed them. It covers as well the changes in water currents that led to the ice age and the little ice age of only a few hundred years ago. It explains the disappearing mammoths. It fills in so many holes. If you need a subject for paper or report, this book would be a great starting place.

Fagan's book, one of four he's written on climate and the archaeological record, are books I highly recommend to those fearful that the world is perched on the brink of collapse. Fagan shows that climate change, regardless of the reason, has happened time and time again over earth's history. It has winners and losers. But the way that humans have been able to lessen the impact time and again has been with technological and sociological adaptation.

Fagan surveys a variety of societies and discusses them in some detail, raising interesting ideas throughout. The faults were two-fold, however. First, Fagan is a good writer, and tries to bring his topics to life by emphasizing, for instance, their rich spiritual lives. Much of what he says is highly conjectural, however, and not very scientific.The second fault of The Long Summer lies in its over-arching themes. Fagan tries to connect the different civilizations, and their fates, using a few very grand metaphors and theories. But I think he has over-reached, and not really proved their utility very well. For instance, he talks of an increasing scale of vulnerability, whereby large civilizations become immune to minor (climatic) disruptions but can be more easily destroyed by very large ones. I found the second half of this argument uncompelling, since the major climatic shifts disrupted all societies, not just complex states. He also refers frequently to a "critical threshold" of vulnerability that societies cross, but he never really demonstrated a threshold per se, just a spectrum.Fagan also has a few strange biases, though nearly every author does. As has been pointed out in other reviews, he completely dismisses the "big kill" hypothesis, and presents it as a settled topic, when in fact the debate is still going on--a more even-handed treatment would have been appreciated. Another example: he frequently refers to civilizations collapsing and their populations dispersing in the face of drought. But when discussing an Amerindian group, which does the exact same thing, he instead chooses to say that they reverted to a successful, "ancestral strategy" of relocation.All of these faults are easily overlooked in the midst of a largely good book, however. It is primarily scientific in its approach, though hardly technical, and a good source of ideas. Definitely recommended for fans of "big history."

It is a good book about a much overlooked era in our past.

After reading this book, I bought it as a gift for my son, who likes to connect the dots by comparing natural events with their historical impact. This book pleased us both - great research and resulting impact.

A really interesting read.

I wish I had discovered Brian Fagan years ago. He does repeat stuff from book to book but I find that this helps to absorb the information better.

A fascinating book relating human history to climate change. It gives a new perspective on some of the great events of history and is well researched and easy to read. No wonder mankind is obsessed with the weather.

good and useful.

fascinating overview, very readable