Book Review: Pfister, C.; Wanner, H. <i>Climate and Society in Europe: The Last Thousand Years</i>; Haupt: Berne, Switzerland, 2021; ISBN: 978-3-258-08234-9

Abstract

The book Climate and Society in Europe: The Last Thousand Years, through an appropriate interdisciplinary approach, identifies and analyses the nexus between past and present climatic variability (opening also a window on the future) but also its impact on environmental contexts, on historical events and on the becoming of European societies in the last millennium. This relevant publication is a must not only for scholars but also for any reader who is interested in the study of climate and its history and is curious to find out how much climate change has had an impact on the history of human societies in Europe. Climate and Society in Europe: The Last Thousand Years, written by two of the leading climate scientists in Europe, achieves an advanced goal through an innovative methodological approach, harmoniously managing to connect the historical climate sciences with the natural climate sciences, thus obtaining new and significant insights into both branches of knowledge. The authors paint an exhaustive picture of the relationships between climatic variability (long and short term) and historical and social aspects in Europe, producing a clear and intriguing text even for non-insiders, with an excellent iconographic apparatus and numerous in-depth inserts.

Keywords

• history of climate
• last millennium
• society
• Europe