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

by Geoffrey Parker

Overview

An accessible synthesis of the prescient best seller exploring seventeenth-century catastrophe and the impact of climate change

First published in 2013, Geoffrey Parker’s prize-winning best seller Global Crisis analyzes the unprecedented calamities—revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, and regicides—that befell the mid-seventeenth-century world and wiped out as much as one-third of the global population, and reveals climate change to be the root cause. Examining firsthand accounts of the crises and scrutinizing the prevailing weather patterns during the 1640s and 1650s—longer and harsher winters, and cooler and wetter summers—Parker reveals evidence of disrupted growing seasons causing malnutrition, disease, a higher death toll, and fewer births.
 
This new abridged edition distills the original book’s prodigious research for a broader audience while retaining and indeed emphasizing Parker’s extraordinary historical achievement: his dazzling demonstration of the link between climate change and worldwide catastrophe 350 years ago. Yet, the contemporary implications of his study are equally important: are we prepared today for the catastrophes that climate change could bring tomorrow? At half the original length, this user-friendly abridgment is ideal for students and general readers seeking a rapid handle on the key issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300219364
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Edition description:	Abridged Edition, Revised Edition
Pages:	672
Sales rank:	983,389
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History and associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University, and the 2012 winner of the Heineken Prize for History. He lives in Columbus, OH.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Preface to the Abridged and Revised Edition xi

Prologue: Did Someone Say 'Climate Change'? xiii

Introduction: The Little Ice Age and the General Crisis xix

Part I The Placenta of the Crisis

1 The Little Ice Age 3

2 The General Crisis 24

3 'Hunger Is the Greatest Enemy': The Heart of the Crisis 49

4 Surviving in the Seventeenth Century 67

Part II Enduring the Crisis

5 The Great Enterprise in China, 1618-84 91

6 The 'Great Shaking': Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1618-86 122

7 The 'Ottoman Tragedy', 1618-83 150

8 Bloodlands: Germany and its Neighbours, 1618-88 169

9 The Agony of the Iberian Peninsula, 1618-89 198

10 France in Crisis, 1618-88 227

11 The Stuart Monarchy: The Path to Civil War, 1603-42 249

12 Britain and Ireland from Civil War to Revolution, 1642-89 274

Part III Surviving the Crisis

13 The Mughals and their Neighbours 301

14 Red Flag over Italy 315

15 The Americas, Africa and Australia 331

16 Getting It Right: Early Tokugawa Japan 356

Part IV Confronting the Crisis

17 'Those Who Have No Means of Support': The Parameters of Popular Resistance 377

18 'People Who Hope Only For a Change: Aristocrats, Intellectuals, Clerics and 'Dirty People of No Name' 394

19 'People of Heterodox Beliefs … Who Will Join Up with Anyone Who Calls Them': Disseminating Revolution 411

Part V Beyond the Crisis

20 Escaping the Crisis 433

21 Warfare State or Welfare State? 448

22 The Great Divergence 473

Conclusion: The Crisis Anatomized 497

Epilogue: 'It's the Climate, Stupid' 512

Chronology 526

Acknowledgements 535

Conventions 539

Note on Sources 540

Abbreviations Used in the Bibliography and Notes 546

Notes 549

Bibliography 588

Index 622

Editorial Reviews

“Enormous research efforts have gone into the writing of this book, an incisive analysis of historical and climatological events during the seventeenth century. . . This is a fascinating book that every politician and bureaucrat should read to in past mistakes things that must be avoided.”—Madra Sivaraman, Environmental Studies

"Mr. Parker tells [the story] with verve. . . . [his] novel interpretation, emphasizing climate instead of individual agency, helps to explain socio-economic change and revolution in ways that future historians will inevitably have to take into account."—Wall Street Journal

"The author sets out to examine a century in which weather patterns radically altered and political, social and economic crises seemed to engulf every part of the world. What relationship does a changing climate bear to global stability? There could scarcely be a more timely question to ask. Parker deploys a dazzling breadth of scholarship in answering it."—Dan Jones, Times


"In his monumental new book . . . Parker’s approach is systematic and painstaking . . . giv[ing] us a rich and emotionally intense sense of how it felt to live through chaotic times."—Lisa Jardine, Financial Times


"Global Crisis is a magnum opus that will remain a touchstone in three areas for at least a generation: the history of the entire globe, the role of climate in history, and the identification of a major historical crisis in the seventeenth century. . . . Wide-ranging, monumental works of history are rare; this is one of them."—Theodore K. Rabb, Times Literary Supplement


"In this vast, superbly researched and utterly engrossing book, Parker shows how climate change pushed the world towards chaos. . . . Parker’s book is not merely powerful and convincing, it is a monument to scholarly dedication."—Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times


"[A] milestone in our understanding of early modern history."—Theodore K. Rabb, Times Literary Supplement


"[A] staggeringly researched, rivetingly written and intellectually dazzling book. . . . I expect it to be read and debated for decades to come."—Sunday Times

"A work of formidable erudition and scope from a renowned British authority on early modern history."—Financial Times

"My big book of the year has been Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis on the disastrous war-torn 17th century. It fills in gaps, gives different perspectives—not least on Scotland during the Civil War—and opens new areas of history to explore."—Catriona Graham, The Guardian

“Enormous research efforts have gone into the writing of this book, an incisive analysis of historical and climatological events during the seventeenth century. . . This is a fascinating book that every politician and bureaucrat should read to see in past mistakes things that must be avoided.”
—Madra Sivaraman, Environmental Studies

"This is an extraordinary and seminal book. . . . Harnessing an enormously impressive range of sources from across the planet, this macro-study of the period has to be recognized as a tremendous achievement. . . . This is a truly pathbreaking work, which really is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the history of the seventeenth century."—Conor Kostick, Journal of Historical Geography

"One of the books I found most informative and most perversely enjoyable this year is Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis:  War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. It deserves, and rewards, careful reading."—Jane Smiley, Harper’s


"The clarity with which Parker, a British historian, has assembled a wealth of material makes this long book difficult to put down. The entire world of the 1660s seems only a heartbeat away."—Patricia Anderson, Australian


"A must read that shows how climate change 350 years ago can serve as a harbinger of the possible human consequences of today's rapidly changing climate. Essential. All levels/libraries."—Choice

"[A] brilliant and mulifaceted approach to the global 17th century."—Robert E. Scully, S.J., America Magazine

"Parker’s book captures this century of upheaval in a political, economic, and cultural history of dozens of early modern states. Parker combed archives in six European countries, as well as India."—Debroah R. Coen, Foreign Affairs

"This is a colossal book, literally and metaphorically. Reading it reminded me of the exhilaration of first reading Braudel’s Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Parker’s book has the same combination of rich detail, global reach and a simple but powerful argument that can change how we see an entire period. Like Braudel’s, Parker’s writing is deft, vivid and rich enough to carry the reader along on the book’s grand tour of the chilly, conflict-ridden world of the 'General Crisis.'"—David Christian, Journal of Military History

"Parker’s great book challenges all future political and military historians to integrate the study of tree rings and glacier cores into their work. And it challenges his readers to think hard about whether humanity in the 21st century will be any less vulnerable than it was in the 17th to sudden disruptions of the environment on which we depend for our subsistence fully as much as did our ancestors of 400 years ago."—David Frum, Atlantic

"Parker’s book amounts to a heady challenge for all historians of the early modern world, none of whom have put as much stock in climate variables, and few of whom can write about the big picture with the authority that he brings."—J.R. McNeill, Public Books

"Not only a powerful case for the role of climate change in inducing crises in human history by also a blistering attack against the prevailing 'culture of denial' . . . plenty of food for thought for generalists and specialist alike."—Markus Vink, Journal of Modern History

"Parker’s book proffers fundamental theoretical constructs and manifold historical facts that demonstrate painstaking scholarship. . . . A fundamental work that might become a classic interdisciplinary investigation of the boundaries of history, demography, and sociology."—Yuri Ivonin, Sixteenth Century Journal

"This colossal study accomplishes something the epics of Gilgamesh and Noah never could; It convincingly links a truly global climate disaster to an epidemic of wars and rebellions that shook the whole world."—American Historical Review

"[An] enormous but engaging global study of the Little Ice Age of the mid-seventeenth century . . . [Parker does] astoundingly extensive research."—Alison Collis Greene, Religious Studies Review

"The bibliography contains works in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Polish, Rumanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, as well as what I take to be Malay and Yiddish. This Stakhanovite approach to research sets a regrettable standard against which nearly every living historian would be judged wanting."—J.R. McNeill, Historically Speaking

Winner of one of the 2012 Heineken Prizes

Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2013

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the History, Geography, & Area Studies Category

Received an Honorable Mention for the 2013 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE), in the European & World History category

Winner of the Society for Military History 2014 Distinguished Book Award for the best book-length publication in English on non-United States military history

"Geoffrey Parker's Global Crisis is at once a revelation and a provocation. By examining a period of unusual climatic perturbation Parker helps us better understand our own era of climate change. Few indeed are the works of history that are so urgently relevant to the present and the future."—Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement

"Geoffrey Parker has deployed the human archive for climate change during the seventeenth century in a masterly synthesis of history and paleoclimatology that helps us redefine the impact of the Little Ice Age on humanity. The Global Crisis is a beautifully written, masterly work of multidisciplinary history, which draws on an amazing range of sources. Parker’s work opens up exciting new avenues for historical inquiry and has direct relevance to today’s debates over climate change and humanity."—Brian Fagan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Little Ice Age

"Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis is an extraordinarily ambitious attempt to write world history "from the bottom up". Based on long decades of work, and eschewing the facile solution of just drawing on secondary literature, Parker once more shows his grasp of varied archives and texts for which he is celebrated. He draws them together around a complex yet powerful thesis linking climate, military power and political change in the seventeenth century. Learned and argumentative, yet written with subtlety, wit and panache, his book will set the bar for the next generation of students and scholars who want to write history on this scale."—Sanjay Subrahmanyam, University of California at Los Angeles

"Parker has given us the most profound and global account of the pivotal seventeenth century, from its revolutions and rebellions to scientific and constitutional breakthroughs.  As we enter a new era of global climate change, this gripping book provides a wondrous portrait of a similar age and a stern warning."—Jack A. Goldstone, author of Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History 1500-1850

"A world-altering force [that] has been emerging, one larger, more devastating, and more definitive than the any other 'turn' in recent historiography: 'I speak of climate change—or climate collapse—and all of its related global transformations.'"—Julia Adeney Thomas, American Historical Review

From the Publisher

Historian and professor Parker (The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare) presents a history of the 17th century that, given its bulk, must surely be the last word on the subject. Focusing on climate-driven unrest around the world, Parker illustrates how events such as drought can drive disease, war, and social change. He cites hundreds of sources dating from that period to the present, including letters, journals, petitions, and published books and articles, though he provides little insight into the accuracy of various sources on specifics like weather data from the 1600s. With a mere 2-degree Celsius change causing significant changes in rice harvests, it is easy to see how the lessons of the past may be relevant today, though Parker reserves commentary on the modern climate for the epilogue. He traces connections between climate and population and war, factors further influencing attitudes toward education and consumption. Few stones are left unturned, from how successful years created agricultural specialists in Germany; to how weather events impacted the Ottoman tragedy; to the roles women played during times of unrest in Europe, India, and China. Parker provides a perceptive but overwhelmingly thorough review of this historical period. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

'Global Crisis is truly global, connecting the dots and making what usually appear as isolated incidents part of a universal chain reaction. Groundbreaking and thrilling.'—Judith Flanders, History Today

History Today - Judith Flanders

“This colossal study accomplishes something the epics of Gilgamesh and Noah never could; It convincingly links a truly global climate disaster to an epidemic of wars and rebellions that shook the whole world.”—American Historical Review

American Historical Review

“Parker’s book amounts to a heady challenge for all historians of the early modern world, none of whom have put as much stock in climate variables, and few of whom can write about the big picture with the authority that he brings.”—J.R. McNeill, Public Books

Public Books - J.R. McNeill

“Parker’s great book challenges all future political and military historians to integrate the study of tree rings and glacier cores into their work. And it challenges his readers to think hard about whether humanity in the 21st century will be any less vulnerable than it was in the 17th to sudden disruptions of the environment on which we depend for our subsistence fully as much as did our ancestors of 400 years ago.”—David Frum Atlantic

Atlantic - David Frum

“It is rare that one reads a history book so compelling and so stimulating that one forgets to eat, but that was my experience with Geoffrey Parker’s magnificent Global Crisis, a magisterial, near 900-page study of the world in the 17th century that centres on the relationship between climate and human conflict.”—Paul Lay, History Today

History Today - Paul Lay

“This is a colossal book, literally and metaphorically. Reading it reminded me of the exhilaration of first reading Braudel’s Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Parker’s book has the same combination of rich detail, global reach and a simple but powerful argument that can change how we see an entire period. Like Braudel’s, Parker’s writing is deft, vivid and rich enough to carry the reader along on the book’s grand tour of the chilly, conflict-ridden world of the ‘General Crisis.’”—David Christian, Journal of Military History

Journal of Military History - David Christian

Winner of a 2014 British Academy Medal.

The British Academy - Medal

“[A] brilliant and mulifaceted approach to the global 17th century.”—Robert E. Scully, S.J., America Magazine

America - Robert E. Scully

“A work of formidable erudition and scope from a renowned British authority on early modern history.”—The Financial Times

Financial Times

“A must read that shows how climate change 350 years ago can serve as a harbinger of the possible human consequences of today's rapidly changing climate. Essential. All levels/libraries.”—Choice

Choice

“[T]his monumental work by the distinguished historian Geoffrey Parker . . . is a formidable piece of scholarship that goes beyond it’s evident grand scale and ambition as a work of synthesis. . . . This book is scholarly and readable, bursting with fully documented examples and authoritative coverage of a vast swathe of 17th-century history, written on a broad canvas but accessible and compelling. It represents a worthy distillation of several decades of Parker’s scholarship, and should provide food for thought for academic historians and interested readers alike.”—Penny Roberts, BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine - Penny Roberts

“Global Crisis is the production of a scholar . . . who has reflected on what he knows long enough to take on the double task of synthesis and breakthrough. . . . Parker regales the reader with some wild and grim tales, interleaved with thoughtful reflections from those who lived through the crises. A more genial geode to disaster one couldn’t hope to find. We shall need more of these in the future.”—Timothy Brook, Literary Review

Literary Review - Timothy Brook

“In this vast, superbly researched and utterly engrossing book, Parker shows how climate change pushed the world towards chaos. . . . Parker’s book is not merely powerful and convincing, it is a monument to scholarly dedication.”—Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

Sunday Times - Dominic Sandbrook

“Global Crisis is a magnum opus that will remain a touchstone in three areas for at least a generation: the history of the entire globe, the role of climate in history, and the identification of a major historical crisis in the seventeenth century. . . . Wide-ranging, monumental works of history are rare; this is one of them.”—Theodore K. Rabb, Times Literary Supplement

Times Literary Supplement - Theodore K. Rabb

Winner of the Society for Military History 2014 Distinguished Book Award for the best book-length publication in English on non-United States military history.

Society for Military History - Distinguished Bok Award

Received an Honorable Mention for the 2013 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE), in the European & World History category.

American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence - PROSE Awards

“In his monumental new book . . . Parker’s approach is systematic and painstaking . . . giv[ing] us a rich and emotionally intense sense of how it felt to live through chaotic times.”—Lisa Jardine, Financial Times

Financial Times - Lisa Jardine

“Mr. Parker tells [the story] with verve. . . . [his] novel interpretation, emphasizing climate instead of individual agency, helps to explain socio-economic change and revolution in ways that future historians will inevitably have to take into account.”—Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal

“One of the books I found most informative and most perversely enjoyable this year is Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. It deserves, and rewards, careful reading.”—Jane Smiley, Harper’s

Harper's - Jane Smiley

“My big book of the year has been Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis on the disastrous war-torn 17th century. It fills in gaps, gives different perspectives – not least on Scotland during the Civil War – and opens new areas of history to explore.”—Catriona Graham, The Guardian

The Guardian - Catronia Graham

[A] staggeringly researched, rivetingly written and intellectually dazzling book. . . I expect it to be read and debated for decades to come.”—The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times

The clarity with which Parker, a British historian, has assembled a wealth of material makes this long book difficult to put down. The entire world of the 1660s seems only a heartbeat away.” —Patricia Anderson, The Australian

The Australian - Patricia Anderson

This is indeed a superb and harrowing book, well worth reading for the skill with which Parker summarises the history of pretty well the whole world . . . a fascinating contribution to history.” —Christopher Booker, The Spectator

The Spectator - Christopher Booker

"The author sets out to examine a century in which weather patterns radically altered and political, social and economic crises seemed to engulf every part of the world. What relationship does a changing climate bear to global stability? There could scarcely be a more timely question to ask. Parker deploys a dazzling breadth of scholarship in answering it."—Dan Jones, The Times

The Times - Dan Jones

"Parker's book captures this century of upheaval in a political, economic, and cultural history of dozens of early modern states. Parker combed archives in six European countries, as well as India."—Debroah R. Coen, Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs - Deborah R. Coen

"Geoffrey Parker has secured an enviable reputation as one of the leading historians of early modern Europe. He has decided to branch out and the results are spectacular. The ambition of his new book is astonishing and the range of research is almost impossible to believe."—Jonathan Wright, Geographical

Geographical - Jonathan Wright

“Its subject is huge, sprawling, all-encompassing and there is an almost reckless ambition about its purpose. It is a big book. It is also a brilliant one, but it requires attention, time and thought . . . This history is told with a sustained gusto by Parker but . . . it is the contemporary significance of the book that is truly breathtaking.” —Hugh MacDonald, Sunday Herald

Sunday Herald - Hugh MacDonald

‘A world-altering force [that] has been emerging, one larger, more devastating, and more definitive than the any other "turn" in recent historiography: “I speak of climate change – or climate collapse – and all of its related global transformations”.’ – Julia Adeney Thomas, American Historical Review

Julia Adeney Thomas

'Parker has given us the most profound and global account of the pivotal seventeenth century, from its revolutions and rebellions to scientific and constitutional breakthroughs.  As we enter a new era of global climate change, thi?s gripping book provides a wondrous portrait of a similar age and a stern warning.' - Jack A. Goldstone, author of Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History 1500-1850

Jack A. Goldstone

'Geoffrey Parker’s Global Crisis is an extraordinarily ambitious attempt to write world history "from the bottom up". Based on long decades of work, and eschewing the facile solution of just drawing on secondary literature, Parker once more shows his grasp of varied archives and texts for which he is celebrated. He draws them together around a complex yet powerful thesis linking climate, military power and political change in the seventeenth century. Learned and argumentative, yet written with subtlety, wit and panache, his book will set the bar for the next generation of students and scholars who want to write history on this scale.' - Sanjay Subrahmanyam, University of California at Los Angeles

Sanjay Subrahmanyam

'Geoffrey Parker has deployed the human archive for climate change during the seventeenth century in a masterly synthesis of history and paleoclimatology that helps us redefine the impact of the Little Ice Age on humanity. The Global Crisis is a beautifully written, masterly work of multidisciplinary history, which draws on an amazing range of sources. Parker’s work opens up exciting new avenues for historical inquiry and has direct relevance to today’s debates over climate change and humanity.' - Brian Fagan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Little Ice Age

Brian Fagan

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the History, Geography, & Area Studies Category.

Choice - Outstanding Academic Title

Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2013

Sunday Times

Winner of one of the 2012 Heineken Prizes

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences - Heineken Prize Laureate

Winner of one of the 2012 Heineken Prizes

— Heineken Prize Laureate

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

★ 06/01/2015
Through the prism of the 17th century, which included the Little Ice Age, Parker explores how climate change initiated food shortages, rampant disease, and warfare in such disparate locales as Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. His cautionary tale warns that while climate change results in great turmoil, the situation does not turn catastrophic unless governments prove unable to respond effectively to the challenges faced by the general populace. (LJ 6/15/13)

Library Journal