Post by helena on Dec 17, 2010 20:42:23 GMT -5
My Short Reading List For Progressives
Jerry West
Editor, The Record
Gold River, BC
There are many issues that concern progressives in the 21st Century, but two concern me the most. One is the most important issue of our time, the environment, and specifically the sustainability of the historic ecosystem in which we have evolved. The other is the history of our species, something that helps explain how we developed to have the environmental problems that we now have.
Here is a list of some of the many sources that I have found useful in researching these issues. This is not a critical review, one who researches them will certainly find that each has its critics, but each contributes to developing an understanding of where we are today.
A good beginning resource for examining the progress of human society is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies published in 1997 by W.W. Norton. Diamond looks at culture and the environment, including geography, to explain the development of human civilization.
A companion to Diamond's book is Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors published by The Penguin Group in 2006. Wade's approach is to trace the spread of humans from Sub-Saharan Africa to all points of the globe using DNA.
Alfred W. Crosby's Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, published by Cambridge University Press in 2004 (2nd edition), examines how European civilization, flora and fauna have come to dominate a large swath of the globe.
Ronald Wright's A Short History of Progress, published by Da Capo Press in 2005, looks at the development of civilizations and what causes them to fail.
In the same vein of Wright's book Thomas Homer-Dixon's The Upside of Down, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006, deals with the growth and collapse of societies.
For those who want a detailed example of a social collapse there is Bryan Ward-Perkins' The Fall of Rome and The End of Civilization, published by Oxford University Press in 2005.
One book that is a must for understanding the issue of climate change is William F. Ruddiman's Plows, Plagues & Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate, published by Princeton University Press in 2005.
Michael P. Byron's Infinity's Rainbow: The Politics of Energy, Climate and Globalization, includes the political and economic dimensions in looking at the growing environmental crisis.
The World Watch Institute publishes a Living Planet Report every couple of years, updating the state of planet and its resources. It is a must read for anyone looking into the issue of the environment and is available free at this URL: assets.panda.org/downloads/lpr2010.pdf
Jerry West
Editor, The Record
Gold River, BC
There are many issues that concern progressives in the 21st Century, but two concern me the most. One is the most important issue of our time, the environment, and specifically the sustainability of the historic ecosystem in which we have evolved. The other is the history of our species, something that helps explain how we developed to have the environmental problems that we now have.
Here is a list of some of the many sources that I have found useful in researching these issues. This is not a critical review, one who researches them will certainly find that each has its critics, but each contributes to developing an understanding of where we are today.
A good beginning resource for examining the progress of human society is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies published in 1997 by W.W. Norton. Diamond looks at culture and the environment, including geography, to explain the development of human civilization.
A companion to Diamond's book is Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors published by The Penguin Group in 2006. Wade's approach is to trace the spread of humans from Sub-Saharan Africa to all points of the globe using DNA.
Alfred W. Crosby's Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, published by Cambridge University Press in 2004 (2nd edition), examines how European civilization, flora and fauna have come to dominate a large swath of the globe.
Ronald Wright's A Short History of Progress, published by Da Capo Press in 2005, looks at the development of civilizations and what causes them to fail.
In the same vein of Wright's book Thomas Homer-Dixon's The Upside of Down, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006, deals with the growth and collapse of societies.
For those who want a detailed example of a social collapse there is Bryan Ward-Perkins' The Fall of Rome and The End of Civilization, published by Oxford University Press in 2005.
One book that is a must for understanding the issue of climate change is William F. Ruddiman's Plows, Plagues & Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate, published by Princeton University Press in 2005.
Michael P. Byron's Infinity's Rainbow: The Politics of Energy, Climate and Globalization, includes the political and economic dimensions in looking at the growing environmental crisis.
The World Watch Institute publishes a Living Planet Report every couple of years, updating the state of planet and its resources. It is a must read for anyone looking into the issue of the environment and is available free at this URL: assets.panda.org/downloads/lpr2010.pdf