{"product_id":"chaos-in-the-heavens-isbn-9781839767227","title":"Chaos in the Heavens","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"If you want to understand the long path to the climate crisis, read this book.\" –Deborah Coen, Professor of History and the History of Science and Medicine, Yale University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoliticians and scientists have debated climate change for centuries in times of rapid change\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNothing could seem more contemporary than climate change. Yet, in \u003ci\u003eChaos in the Heavens,\u003c\/i\u003e Jean-Baptiste Fressoz and Fabien Locher show that we have been thinking about and debating the consequences of our actions upon the environment for centuries. The subject was raised wherever history accelerated: by the Conquistadors in the New World, by the French revolutionaries of 1789, by the scientists and politicians of the nineteenth century, by the European imperialists in Asia and Africa until the Second World War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClimate change was at the heart of fundamental debates about colonisation, God, the state, nature, and capitalism. From these intellectual and political battles emerged key concepts of contemporary environmental science and policy. For a brief interlude, science and industry instilled in us the reassuring illusion of an impassive climate. But, in the age of global warming, we must, once again, confront the chaos in the heavens.\u003ci\u003eIntroduction: Ten Theses on Climate Change\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1 Christopher Columbus’s True Discovery\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘The trees produce clouds and rain’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe sacred tree of El Hierro\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSlavery in a temperate zone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2 Improving the World?\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eColonial propaganda\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Cosmical suspicions’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe sacred tree and the global water cycle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 The Climate of History\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy did the Romans decline?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe climatic history of the European peoples\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRanking Nations\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCountering the encroaching cold\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4 The Birth of Historical Climatology\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMeteorologists tackle the past\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe pitfalls of historical thermometry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe sources of historical climatology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5 An Arsenal in the Indian Ocean\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA nature for war\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBernardin de Saint-Pierre, or an unconditional eulogy of trees\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn energy crisis\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6 The Climate of the Revolution\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Repairing the climate’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Compelling the weather to release its prey’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘The forestry security’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Stop, stop that lethal axe’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNapoleon and the water cycle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7 Climate Patriotism\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe climate of independence\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe climate of improvement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8 In the Shadow of the Volcano\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA planetary catastrophe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA providential debacle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReassuring glaciers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA climate of laissez-faire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e9 Should the National Forests be Sold?\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForests, debt, and climate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘The torch of reason in our sacred woods’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Revolution’s environmental legacy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e10 The Crusades of François-Antoine Rauch\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRauch’s vision: a material, global and divine harmony\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBabylon, or the ruins of the future\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe bad business of the climate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e11 Circular no. 18: An Inquiry into Climate Change from Two\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ministry of the Interior and of Climate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDeciphering change\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePointers, evidence, and testimony\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eScales of change\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe forests and climates of the globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForgetting the inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e12 The Power of Forests\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn affront to property\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForestry externalities\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlaying on uncertainty\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReturn to Tacarigua\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e13 The Horizon Clears\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRepairing France: from the sky to the ground\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe slow eclipse of the forestry issue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe end of the agricultural ancien régime\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e14 The Enigmas of the Climatic Past\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe labyrinth of change\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe new climate sciences\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe furnace of the Carboniferous\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntering the Holocene\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e15 Restoring the World, Governing Empires\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Arab and the climate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThreats to the Raj\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe frontier climate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Sahara to the Namib\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA planet of deserts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e16 The Innocent Carbon of the Nineteenth Century\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe theology of carbon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRegulatory mechanisms\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePrecursors of their time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eConclusion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAfterword\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e\"The upshot of is this brilliant book is that historians have been asking the wrong question. For years we've been trying to date the emergence of a consciousness about the impacts of human activities on Earth's climate. But this awareness long predates modern science, as we learn from the authors' pathbreaking research. The real question, the one at the heart of their book, is why this awareness was always ambivalent and why it evaporated at the turn of the twentieth century. If you want to understand the long path to the climate crisis, read this book.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Deborah Coen, Professor of History \u0026amp; History of Science \u0026amp; Medicine, Yale University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At once a cry of alarm and a global call to action, \u003ci\u003eChaos in the Heavens\u003c\/i\u003e is a pathbreaking book which reveals not only that debates about climate change are centuries-old but also that our current apathy stems primarily from a false story of optimism and capitalist technophilia developed during the 20th century. Perhaps even more important, though, is the warning at the heart of this remarkable book that stories of climate change crises have been used to generate profits and been abused to wield many kinds of power over the most vulnerable on our planet for longer than we realize.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Diana K. Davis, University of California at Davis, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e (2016)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This brilliant book turns upside down the received story of climate science. Fressoz and Locher uncover a rich awareness of climate change in early modern times centered on forests and water. But with the advent of industrial society in the nineteenth century, wealthy Western nations embraced a new indifference to climate. If Fressoz and Locher are right, we need to look to the past to understand why climate mitigation has met with such fierce resistance in the present moment. Behind the climate denial of the oil lobby lies the Victorian faith in the imperturbable sky.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Fredrik Albritton Jonsson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A truly fabulous book -- surprising, thought-provoking and rich in historical irony. It is a necessary corrective to the narrative which makes the emergence of climate change as a matter of concern relatively recent and incremental. But it is more enlightening, more provocative and more entertaining than any mere necessity would have required.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Oliver Morton, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Moon: A History for the Future\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJean-Baptiste Fressoz\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian of science and technology, previously at Imperial College London, now based in Paris at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. He is the author of\u003ci\u003e L’Apocalypse joyeuse. Une histoire du risque technologique\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Shock of the Anthropocene \u003c\/i\u003e(with C. Bonneuil)\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eFabien Locher\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian of science, technology and environment at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eLe Savant et la Tempête. Etudier l’atmosphère et prévoir le temps au XIXe siècle.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Verso","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304800080101,"sku":"NP9781839767227","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781839767227.jpg?v=1767723563","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/chaos-in-the-heavens-isbn-9781839767227","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}