Floods, Famines and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations

by Brian M . Fagan (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1999

  $11.79

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $3.24

  In 1997 and early 1998, one of the most powerful El Ninos ever recorded disrupted weather patterns all over the world. Europe suffered through a record freeze as the American West was hit with massive floods and snow-storms; in the Western Pacific, meanwhile, some island nations literally went bone dry and had to have water flown in on transport planes. In this dazzlingly original book, archaeologist Brian Fagan shows that such effects are not new: El Nino has been disrupting weather patterns on and off for at least 5, 000 years, sometimes with catastrophic effects on civilizations. El Nino-driven droughts have brought on the collapse of dynasties in Egypt; El Nino monsoon failures have caused historic famines in India; and El Nino floods have destroyed whole civilizations in Peru and changed the course of European exploration. These events are not isolated but had lasting influence on the later course of these civilizations for centuries.

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $31.21

  In 1999, few people had thought to examine the effects of climate on civilization. Now, due in part to the groundbreaking work of archaeologist Brian Fagan, climate change is a central issue. Revised and updated ten years after its first publication, Floods, Famines and Emperors remains the definitive account of how the world's best-known climate event had an indelible impact on history.