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The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 Paperback – December 24, 2001

by Brian Fagan (Author)

129 customer reviews

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The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold influenced familiar events from Norse exploration to the settlement of North America to the Industrial Revolution. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, climate, and how they interact.

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Product Details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (December 27, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465022723
ISBN-13: 978-0465022724
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #59 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Rivers
- #88 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Archaeology
- #94 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Weather

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Customer Reviews

129

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5 star		46%
4 star		26%
3 star		14%
2 star		9%
1 star		5%

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60 of 61 people found the following review helpful

Excellent overview of a fascinating period

By Tim F. Martin on May 8, 2005

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

_The Little Ice Age_ by Brian Fagan is a fascinating, very readable, and well researched book on the science and history of a particular period of climatic history, the "Little Ice Age," which lasted approximately from 1300 to 1850. Despite the name, the Little Ice Age (a term coined by glacial geologist Francois Matthes in 1939, a term he used in a very informal way and without capitalized letters) was not a time of unrelenting cold. Rather, it was an era of dramatic climatic shifts, cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds alternating with periods of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters, and frequent and often devastating Atlantic storms as well as periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and intense summer heat. The Little Ice Age was "an endless zigzag of climatic shifts," few lasting more than 25 years or so.

Nevertheless the climate of the time proved difficult and overall was uniformly cooler, often considerably so, than the time before and afterwards. The Little Ice Age was an era when there used to be winter fairs on the frozen River Thames during the time of King Charles II, one that produced the great gales that devastated the Spanish Armada in 1588, was when George Washington's Continental Army endured a brutal winter in Valley Forge in 1777-1778, when pack ice surrounded Iceland for much of the year, when Alpine glaciers destroyed villages and advanced kilometers from their present positions, when hundreds of poor died of hypothermia regularly every winter in London late into the 19th century.Read more ›

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114 of 122 people found the following review helpful

Climatic shifts and the course of history

By Boris Bangemann on April 16, 2003

Format: Paperback

Brian Fagan claims that "we can now track the Little Ice Age as an intricate tapestry of short-term climatic shifts that rippled through European society during times of remarkable change - seven centuries that saw Europe emerge from medieval fiefdom and pass by stages through the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery, the Enlightenment, the French and Industrial revolutions, and the making of modern Europe."
The interesting question is to what extent did these climatic shifts alter the course of European history?
In some distinct cases, in my opinion, the answer is quite clear-cut. Norse settlement in Greenland, for example, became impossible because of the cooler temperatures after the 13th century. Famine in rural areas throughout the Middle Ages was also an undisputed consequence of sudden weather shifts. The damage done to the Spanish Armada in 1588 by two savage storms is patently climatic in origin, too.
In most cases, however, the climate is just one - mostly minor - factor out of many that contributed to the occurrence of major historical events like the French Revolution, for example. Fagan rightly calls climatic change "a subtle catalyst." Finally, if we look at historical developments that unfolded over centuries - like the Renaissance or the making of modern Europe - the influence of the climate does not explain anything.
A book like Fagan's "The Little Ice Age" is most interesting for historians who examine grass roots history, such as the daily lives of farmers and fishermen in the Middle Ages. At first I thought the climate would provide answers for economic historians, too. But as Fagan shows, the human response to deteriorating weather differs widely from region to region.Read more ›

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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

Baby, its cold outside.

By Jay A. Frogel on March 20, 2001

Format: Hardcover

Major climatic events impact history. Most of the time the impacts are short lived although severe at the time, e.g. the class 4 and 5 hurricanes that batter the U.S. Rare are the events that though short lived, have long term consequences, e.g. the bitter winters that contributed to Napoleon's and Hitler's ill-fated invasions of Russia. Or the storms that sank the Spanish Armada. Rarer still are climatic events that are themselves long-lived and have profound historical repercussions for human societies. Brian Fagan has now produced two books about these latter type of events - an earlier book about the impacts of el Nino, and the present book on the period of intense cold that gripped Europe and much of the rest of the world for about a 500 year period that ended in the middle of the 19th century. Although the writing occasionally appears hasty, or to suffer from rather incomplete editing, this is a story well told. Fagan draws upon extensive historical documents, both formal and informal, to describe the impact of a climate that not only was on average somewhat colder than that of the 20th century, but also highly variable. Indeed, the often rapid and large swings in temperature and rainfall appear to have had a severer effect on human societies than the cold itself. After all, once you know that it is going to be colder or hotter than average - and stay that way - you can take appropriate measures (at least within certain limits). But wide and unpredictable swings in temperature and precipitation can have devastating effects. Fagan is able to convey these effects in a very personal way. Fagan concludes with thoughts on the potential effects of the present global warming.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

I found this book very interesting and went back over ...

I found this book very interesting and went back over parts to really get it. Who knew that studying the paintings of artists of the era would be a clue to the weather? Read more

Published 16 days ago by Judith Doreen Jones

AMAZING INFORMATION!!

This book explains very well how the troubles people had centuries ago were not so much caused by extreme cold weather, including late frosts and short growing seasons, but how... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Mel S.

I enjoyed this book mainly because it used specific facts to ...

In this time when everyone screams about global warming it was fascinating to read that they used to grow grapes, something I think of as being in warm areas of France, quite far... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Chris

Five Stars

Great! Interesting, beautifully written description of the little ice age. It became a favorite one.

Published 2 months ago by Xochitl Cruz Nunez

The book is very interesting and has some great facts. The only issue...

The book is very interesting and has some great facts. The only issue I had with the book was the author so wanted to make a point about "Manmade global warming" that he... Read more

Published 3 months ago by James Lambeth

Definitely a Great Read

I started out by watching the History Channel program "Little Ice Age: Big Chill". I purchased the DVD because this program is packed with information about an event... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Mary L. Williams

An excellent read!

I had seen this presented on the History Channel and was fascinated. When I learned of the book I knew I wanted it. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Marcia A Powell

The book arrived on time and in good condition. The content is...

The book arrived on time and in good condition. The content is provocative and written in a readable and entertaining way. Thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

Published 5 months ago by V. Carroll

Five Stars

Good Read

Published 6 months ago by Abraham Lincoln

A good overview of climate & its affects on civilization

This is an overview of how climate, most especially the coldest swings of our climate, have affected people throughout history. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Thomas C. Fletcher

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