Global Crisis: War, Climate Change, & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century

· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Peter Noble
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48 hr 44 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

The acclaimed historian demonstrates a link between climate change and social unrest across the globe during the mid-seventeenth century. Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides, government collapses-the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were unprecedented in both frequency and severity. The effects of what historians call the "General Crisis" extended from England to Japan and from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas. In this meticulously researched volume, historian Geoffrey Parker presents the firsthand testimony of men and women who experienced the many political, economic, and social crises that occurred between 1618 to the late 1680s. He also incorporates the scientific evidence of climate change during this period into the narrative, offering a strikingly new understanding of the General Crisis. Changes in weather patterns, especially longer winters and cooler and wetter summers, disrupted growing seasons and destroyed harvests. This in turn brought hunger, malnutrition, and disease; and as material conditions worsened, wars, rebellions, and revolutions rocked the world.

About the author

Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History and associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University, and Professor Afiliado, Division de Historia, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, Mexico City. Among his many awards is the 2012 Heineken Prize for History.

Peter Noble is an Audie Award-winning narrator who has recorded hundreds of audiobooks and audio dramas, including the 2021 Booker Prize winner, as well as Audible and New York Times bestsellers.

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