Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of NatureErudite, wide-ranging, a work of dazzling scholarship written with extraordinary flair, Civilizations redefines the subject that has fascinated historians from Thucydides to Gibbon to Spengler to Fernand Braudel: the nature of civilization. To the author, Oxford historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a society's relationship to climate, geography, and ecology are paramount in determining its degree of success. "Unlike previous attempts to write the comparative history of civilizations," he writes, "it is arranged environment by environment, rather than. By. Or society by society." Thus, for example, tundra civilizations of Ice Age Europe are linked with those of the Inuit of the Pacific Northwest, the Mississippi Mound Builders with the deforesters of 11th-century Europe. Civilizations brilliantly connects the world of ecologist, geologist, and geographer with the panorama of cultural history. - Back cover. |
Other editions - View all
Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature Felipe Fernandez-Armesto No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Africa agriculture America ancient Angkor antiquity Arab Asia Atlantic civilization Aztec became Benin Buddhist building built Cambridge century B.C. China Chinese civi coast colonies communities conquest culture desert early east Easter Island Egypt elite empire environment Ethiopia Europe European Fernández-Armesto forest frontier global gold Greek Harappan Harappan Civilisation Hesiod highland human hundred Ibid Ibn Battuta imperial Inca Indian Ocean Islam islands king land late live lization London lowlands maize maritime Maya medieval Mediterranean ment merchants Mesoamerica millennium B.C. Mongol monumental mountains Mwene Mutapa native nature navigation neighbors never numbers Olmec political Portuguese recorded region rich River Roman routes rulers sail seaboard seems ships shores slaves society soil Srivijaya stone Sumer surviving temple thousand Tibet tion trade tradition Valley Vasco Vasco da Gama Venice voyage wealth West Western wind Yellow River York