John Robert McNeill Books

Thirty years ago, Alfred Crosby published a small work that illuminated a simple point, that the most important changes brought on by the voyages of Columbus were not social or political, but biological in nature. The book told the story of how 1492 sparked the movement of organisms, both large and small, in both directions across the Atlantic. This Columbian exchange, between the Old World and the New, changed the history of our planet drastically and forever.The book The Columbian Exchange changed the field of history drastically and forever as well. It has become one of the foundational works in the burgeoning field of environmental history, and it remains one of the canonical texts for the study of world history. This 30th anniversary edition of The Columbian Exchange includes a new preface from the author, reflecting on the book and its creation, and a new foreword by J. R. McNeill that demonstrates how Crosby established a brand new perspective for understanding ecological and social events. As the foreword indicates, The Columbian Exchange remains a vital book, a small work that contains within the inspiration for future examinations into what happens when two peoples, separated by time and space, finally meet.

Refreshingly unpolemical and at times even witty, McNeill's book brims with carefully sifted statistics and brilliant details.-Washington Post Book World

The pace of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and population growth has thrust the planet into a new age-the Anthropocene. Humans have altered the planet's biogeochemical systems without consciously managing them. The Great Acceleration explains the causes, consequences, and uncertainties of this massive uncontrolled experiment.

Why did the first civilizations emerge when and where they did? How did Islam become a unifying force in the world of its birth? What enabled the West to project its goods and power around the world from the fifteenth century on? Why was agriculture invented seven times and the steam engine just once?

Guerras mundiales, el auge y caída del comunismo, la difusión de la democracia: la historia del siglo XX se suele contar a través de acontecimientos así. Pero, en este siglo, la humanidad también ha remodelado, en un grado sin precedentes, el aire, el agua, el suelo y la biosfera de la Tierra. Tal como escribe John R. McNeill en este importante libro, el cambio medioambiental acabará siendo con el tiempo el aspecto más significativo del siglo XX.

Die Tsunami-Katastrophe in Südostasien hat uns auf furchtbare Weise vor Augen geführt, wie zerbrechlich der Blaue Planet ist. Viele Naturkatastrophen sind dabei durch den Menschen selber verursacht. John McNeill hat eine Vielzahl von Daten und Fakten zusammengetragen, die belegen, wie die Menschen schon lange vor Beginn der Industrialisierung massiv in die Natur eingegriffen haben: Durch Boden-, Gewässer und Weltraumverschmutzung haben sie Sauren Regen, Smog und Ozonloch geschaffen. Küstenveränderungen, Ausbeutung der Bodenschätze, Artenausrottung und Gentechnik sorgen dafür, dass nichts bleibt, wie es war. McNeill legt die Fakten dar, ohne den moralischen Zeigefinger zu heben – und gerade dadurch weckt er kritische Aufmerksamkeit für den Umgang mit unserem Planeten. »Das originellste Buch, das ich in diesem Jahr gelesen habe.« Eric Hobsbawm »Bewundernswert sachlich … Anstelle apokalyptischer Warnungen vermittelt McNeill klaren Verstand.« Economist