Globalization, Environmental Change, and Social History

Download or read book Globalization, Environmental Change, and Social History written by Peter Boomgaard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-24 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout all ages, the activities of mankind have weighed heavily upon the environment. In turn, changes in that environment have favoured the rise of certain social groups and limited the actions of others. Despite this, environmental history has remained a 'blind spot' for most social and economic historians. This is to be regretted, as the various and unequal effects of environmental change often explain the strengths and weaknesses of certain social groups, irrespective of their being defined along the lines of class, gender and ethnicity. This volume brings together the expertise of social and environmental historians in an effort to assess the extent to which transnational agents changed socioecological space as a consequence of globalization since the Late Middle Ages.