Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Modern World

The definitive environmental history of the twentieth-century world, now updated for the twenty-first.

Humans have long transformed the planet, scratching its surface for stones and ores, planting and harvesting crops, sparking fires for light and heat. But since the dawn of industrialization and especially since 1950, our impact has accelerated sharply. Economic, technological, and demographic changes have driven rapid and ongoing shifts in patterns of pollution, human health, and rising sea level and temperatures.

In his landmark publication Something New Under the Sun, acclaimed historian J. R. McNeill offered a new way to understand twentieth-century history: through environmental change. Threading lucid scientific explanations with captivating stories, McNeill’s prize-winning history chronicles humanity’s deepening imprint on the planet in an evenhanded account that seeks, above all, to explain. With updated data and stories, and new discussions of climate change and climate politics, Something New Under the Sun remains the definitive account of the most urgent topic of our time.