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“The” Winds of Change:

Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
Front Cover
15 Reviews
Simon and Schuster, 2006 - Science - 302 pages
The Winds of Change places the horrifying carnage unleashed on New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama by Hurricane Katrina in context.

Climate has been humanity's constant, if moody, companion. At times benefactor or tormentor, climate nurtured the first stirrings of civilization and then repeatedly visited ruin on empires and peoples. Eugene Linden reveals a recurring pattern in which civilizations become prosperous and complacent during good weather, only to collapse when climate changes -- either through its direct effects, such as floods or drought, or indirect consequences, such as disease, blight, and civil disorder.

The science of climate change is still young, and the interactions of climate with other historical forces are much debated, but the evidence mounts that climate loomed over the fate of societies from arctic Greenland to the Fertile Crescent and from the lost cities of the Mayans in Central America to the rain forests of Central Africa. Taking into account the uncertainties in both science and the historical record, Linden explores the evidence indicating that climate has been a serial killer of civilizations. The Winds of Change looks at the present and then to the future to determine whether the accused killer is on the prowl, and what it will do in the future.

The tragedy of New Orleans is but the latest instance in which a region prepared for weather disasters experienced in the past finds itself helpless when nature ups the ante. In the closing chapters, Linden explores why warnings about the dangers of climate change have gone unheeded and what is happening with climate today, and he offers perhaps the most explicit look yet at what a haywire climate might do to us. He shows how even a society prepared to absorb such threshold-crossing events as Katrina, the killer heat wave in Europe in 2003, or the floods in the American Midwest in the 1990s can spiral into precipitous decline should such events intensify and become more frequent.

The Winds of Change places climate change, global warming, and the resulting instability in historical context and sounds an urgent warning for the future.

  

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Review: The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations

User Review  - Clownbaby Hall - Goodreads

Very well researched and written. Linden presents his case without bias and systematically disproves and silences opponents of climate change by examining historical sites and evidence with a different perspective. Read full review

Review: The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations

User Review  - Pam Logee - Goodreads

Very thorough. Eye-opening as well. Read full review

All 15 reviews »

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Contents

Preface
1
A Matter of Emphasis
9
Climate as Creator
34
Destroyer
41
The First Victim
49
Climate Comes into Focus
89
The Gears of Global Climate
99
Ice
123
Scorched Earth
165
Is It Little Ice Age or Ages?
171
PART FOUR
179
El Niño Meets Empire
190
A Taste of Things to Come?
207
The Tides of Public Opinion
219
Water Moving Through Water
230
PART
245

Mud
136
The Mystery of Tell Leilan
149
Acknowledgments
289
Copyright

Other editions - View all

“The” Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
“The” Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations

No preview available - 2006
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
Eugene Linden
No preview available - 2007

Common terms and phrases

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References to this book

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References from web pages

resolutereader: Eugene Linden - The Winds of Change: Climate ...
Eugene Linden - The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations. Just how civilizations have been altered by the climate is ...
resolutereader.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 12/ eugene-linden-winds-of-change-climate.html

Eugene Linden : endangered animals, rapid climate change, global ...
... complacency to its core in THE WINDS OF CHANGE: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations (Simon & Schuster; February 13, 2006; $26.00). ...
www.eugenelinden.com/ winds-of-change.html

The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of ...
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations from Science News in Reference provided free by Find Articles.
findarticles.com/ p/ articles/ mi_m1200/ is_10_169/ ai_n16129915

Books: 'The Winds of Change' - washingtonpost.com
21, at 1 pm ET to discuss his new book, "The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations." Linden examines the phenomenon of ...
www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ content/ discussion/ 2006/ 01/ 31/ DI2006013100864.html

A Silent Spring for climate change? : Article : Nature
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations. Amazon:. Amazon US: The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction ...
www.nature.com/ nature/ journal/ v440/ n7080/ full/ 440027a.html

'The Weather Makers' - 'The Winds of Change' - Review - Books ...
These two overlapping new books do their best to intrigue and galvanize the armchair climatologist
www.nytimes.com/ 2006/ 02/ 27/ books/ 27masl.html

Eugene Linden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations; The Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Eugene_Linden

CLIMATE CHANGE: Weather Effects -- Goudie 312 (5776): 1001 -- Science
Jump to: Page Content, Section Navigation, Site Navigation, Site Search, Account Information, or Site Tools. Note to users. If you're seeing this message, ...
www.sciencemag.org/ cgi/ content/ full/ 312/ 5776/ 1001?ck=nck

Linden (Guyana) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
THE WINDS OF CHANGE: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations. Science News, 3/11/2006, Vol. 169 Issue 10, p159-159 ...
www.britannica.com/ eb/ topic-341847/ Linden

Science Communication
http://scx.sagepub.com. Science Communication. DOI: 10.1177/1075547006298661. 2007; 28; 418. Science Communication. Kris Wilson ...
scx.sagepub.com/ cgi/ reprint/ 28/ 3/ 418.pdf

About the author (2006)

Award winning journalist Eugene Linden is the author of books, articles and essays about science, technology and the environment. He has written a thought provoking, insightful book, "The Future in Plain Sight: Nine Clues to the Coming Instability" (1998). In this book, Linden presents the thesis that rapid change is eminent and evident in climate conditions, the spread of infectious disease, volatile economic conditions, loss of biodiversity and other clues. The reader is then projected to 2050 as Linden presents the consequences of this instability. Somewhat of a doomsayer, the author's vision is not a pretty one: lethal plagues, deadly famine, catastrophic storms, economic collapse and more. But in the final analysis, some small hope is offered. "Over the millennia, humanity has proved to be an artful dodger of fate, a defier of limits, a surmounter of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and a master escape artist from traps laid by nature. Only the very brave or fool hardy would assert flatly that our resourceful species has finally exhausted its bag of tricks. Still, it is very late in the game." Other books by Linden include "Apes, Men and Language" (1974), "The Alms Race: the Impact of American Voluntary Aid Abroad" (1976), "Affluence and Discontent: the Anatomy of Consumer Societies" (1979), and "Silent Partners: the Legacy of the Ape Language Experiments" (1986), a New York Times notable book. Linden has been writing for Time magazine since 1987. Some of his award winning cover stories are "Doomed" (1995) exploring endangered tigers, "Megacities" (1993), dealing with overpopulation and "The World's Last Eden" (1992) about rain forest destruction. The author is a frequent guest on radio and television shows from Firing Line to Good Morning America and a contributor to a wide range of periodicals from The Wall Street Journal to National Geographic. .

Bibliographic information

QR code for “The” Winds of Change
Title“The” Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
AuthorEugene Linden
Editionillustrated
PublisherSimon and Schuster, 2006
ISBN0684863529, 9780684863528
Length302 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / World
Science / Earth Sciences / Meteorology & Climatology
Science / Environmental Science
  
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