Climate and Catastrophe: The World Crisis of the 17th Century

In The World Crisis: Climate, Catastrophe, and State Breakdown in the 17th Century, Geoffrey Parker looks at why the period between 1640 and 1660 saw more wars and state breakdowns around the world than any other before or since. Parker explains this global crisis as an interaction of five factors: a sudden episode of “global cooling”; the emergence of vulnerable areas of economic specialization; a sharp increase in religious and fiscal pressure by many governments; the crumbling of the prevailing demographic regime; and the emergence of radical new ideologies. He examines not just ecological adversity, but also the varying human responses, especially noting the differences between states and communities that survived and those that perished.

Parker is a fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Spanish American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Academy of History (Madrid). Parker is a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History, as well as two Guggenheim awards. In 2007 he received the Harlan Hatcher Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service, and he was named Distinguished University Professor.