A master historian's spirited survey of humanity's strategies for tapping sun energy, past and future. We don't often recognize the humble activity of cooking for the revolutionary cultural adaptation that it is. But when the hearth fires started burning in the Paleolithic, humankind broadened the exploitation of food and initiated an avalanche of change. And we don't often associate cooking with drilling for oil, but both are innovations that allow us to tap the sun energy accumulated in organic matter. Alfred W. Crosby, a founder of the field of global history, reveals how humanity's successes hinge directly on effective uses of sun energy. But dwindling natural resources, global warming, and environmental pollution all testify to the limits of our fossil-fuel civilization. Although we haven't yet adopted a feasible alternative―just look at the embarrassment of "cold fusion" or the 2003 blackout that humbled North America―our ingenuity and adaptability as a species give us hope. 10 illustrations, map.

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy

Business & Money

Crosby, Alfred W.

Economics

W.W.Norton&Company

We don’t often recognize the humble activity of cooking for the revolutionary cultural adaptation that it is. But when the hearth fires started burning in the Paleolithic, humankind broadened the exploitation of food and took one of several great leaps forward.
All life on earth is dependent on energy from the sun, but one species has evolved to be especially efficient in tapping that supply. This is the story of the human species and its dedicated effort to sustain and elevate itself by making the earth’s stores of energy its own. A story of slow evolutionary change and sharp revolutionary departures, it takes readers from the origins of the species to our current fork in the road.
 With a winning blend of wit and insight, Alfred W. Crosby reveals the fundamental ways in which humans have transformed the world and themselves in their quest for energy. When they first started, humans found fuel much like other species in the simple harvesting of wild plants and animals. A major turn in the human career came with the domestication of fire, an unprecedented achievement unique to the species. The greatest advantage from this breakthrough came in its application to food. Cooking vastly increased the store of organic matter our ancestors could tap as food, and the range of places they could live. As they spread over the earth, humans became more complicated harvesters, negotiating alliances with several other species―plant and animal―leading to the birth of agriculture and civilizations. For millennia these civilizations tapped sun energy through the burning of recently living biomass―wood, for instance. But humans again took a revolutionary turn in the last two centuries with the systematic burning of fossilized biomass. Fossil fuels have powered our industrial civilization and in turn multiplied our demand for sun energy. Here we are then, on the verge of exceeding what the available sources of sun energy can conventionally afford us, and suffering the ill effects of our seemingly insatiable energy appetite. A found of the field of global history, Crosby gives a book that glows with illuminating power.

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite For Energy

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918

Americas

Cambridge University Press

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion.  Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years.   First Edition Hb (1986): 0-521-32009-7   First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33613-9

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Studies in Environment and History)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

In Throwing Fire, historian Alfred W. Crosby looks at hard, accurate throwing and the manipulation of fire as unique human capabilities. Humans began throwing rocks in prehistory and then progressed to javelins, atlatls, bows and arrows. We learned to make fire by friction and used it to cook, drive game, burn out rivals, and alter landscapes to our liking. Our exploitation of these two capabilities figured in the extinction of many species, and may have played a role in the demise of Neanderthals. In historic times we invented catapults, trebuchets, and such flammable liquids as Greek Fire, a napalm-like substance that stuck to whatever it hit and could not be extinguished with water. About 1,000 years ago we invented gunpowder, which led to guns and rockets, enabling us to literally throw fire. Gunpowder weaponry accelerated the rise of empires and the advance of European imperialism. In the 20th century, gunpowder weaponry enabled us to achieve unprecedented mayhem--the most destructive wars of all time. This trend peaked at the end of World War II with the V-2 and atomic bomb, at which point species suicide became possible. Faced with possible extinction should we experience World War III, we have turned our projectile talents to space travel which may make it possible for our species to migrate to other bodies of our solar system and even other star systems. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990) and Ecological Imperialism (Cambridge, 1986). He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years. His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year.

Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology through History

Military

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world - North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain; in many cases they were a matter of firearms against spears. But as Alfred Crosby explains in his highly original and fascinating book, the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest.

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900 (Studies in Environment and History)

World

Between August 1918 and March 1919 the Spanish influenza spread worldwide claiming over 25 million lives, more people than perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans. Yet, the Spanish flu pandemic is largely forgotten today. In this vivid narrative, Alfred W. Crosby recounts the course of the pandemic during the panic-striken months of 1918 and 1919, measures its impact on American society, and probes the curious loss of national memory of this cataclysmic event.

Between August 1918 and March 1919 the Spanish influenza spread worldwide claiming over 25 million lives, more people than perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans. Yet, the Spanish flu pandemic is largely forgotten today. In this vivid narrative, Alfred W. Crosby recounts the course of the pandemic during the panic-striken months of 1918 and 1919, measures its impact on American society, and probes the curious loss of national memory of this cataclysmic event.

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Canto)

Europe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crosby, Alfred W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Crosby, Alfred W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crosby, Alfred W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy

Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite For Energy

America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Studies in Environment and History)

Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology through History

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900 (Studies in Environment and History)

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900 (Studies in Environment and History)

America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918

America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Canto)