Deforesting the earth : from prehistory to global crisis : an abridgment / Michael Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Michael, 1935-2009.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forests and forestry--History.

Forests and forestry.

Clearing of land--History.

Clearing of land.

Deforestation--History.

Deforestation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (563 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Anyone who doubts the power of history to inform the present should read this closely argued and sweeping survey. This is rich, timely, and sobering historical fare written in a measured, non-sensationalist style by a master of his craft. One only hopes (almost certainly vainly) that today's policymakers take its lessons to heart."-Brian Fagan, Los Angeles Times Published in 2002, Deforesting the Earth was a landmark study of the history and geography of deforestation. Now available as an abridgment, this edition retains the breadth of the original while rendering its arguments accessible to a general readership. Deforestation-the thinning, changing, and wholesale clearing of forests for fuel, shelter, and agriculture-is among the most important ways humans have transformed the environment. Surveying ten thousand years to trace human-induced deforestation's effect on economies, societies, and landscapes around the world, Deforesting the Earth is the preeminent history of this process and its consequences. Beginning with the return of the forests after the ice age to Europe, North America, and the tropics, Michael Williams traces the impact of human-set fires for gathering and hunting, land clearing for agriculture, and other activities from the Paleolithic age through the classical world and the medieval period. He then focuses on forest clearing both within Europe and by European imperialists and industrialists abroad, from the 1500's to the early 1900's, in such places as the New World, India, and Latin America, and considers indigenous clearing in India, China, and Japan. Finally, he covers the current alarming escalation of deforestation, with our ever-increasing human population placing a potentially unsupportable burden on the world's forests.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

PART I. CLEARING IN THE DEEP PAST

PART II. REACHING OUT: EUROPE AND THE WIDER WORLD

PART III. THE GLOBAL FOREST

EPILOGUE. Backward and Forward Glances

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF MEASURES, ABBREVIATIONS, AND ACRONYMS

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 483-510) and index.

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

9786612659904

9781282659902

1282659901

9780226899053

0226899055

OCLC:

646788661