Climate and Society in Europe

A richly illustrated book on the history of climate change in Europe. Two perspectives, one unique book: two leading experts, a historian and a climatologist, co-author a new standard work on climate history. An overview of the connection between climatic and social developments over the last 1000 years.

For the first time, a historian and a climatologist with knowledge of climate history have worked closely together to create a unique book, combining climate reconstructions based on documented data in their human-historical context with temporally highly resolved analyses of climate and glaciers.

"Here we can clearly see how changes in climate affected the environment and people of Europe over many centuries, with important lessons for the future. A wonderfully engaging and well-documented account by two of Europe's leading climate scientists." Prof. Dr. Raymond Bradley, Director, Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA)

"This unique book provides new fascinating insights into the interaction of past climate and society in Europe. It can be highly recommended to climatologists, historians and geoscientists, but also to students and the broad public." Prof. Dr. Rudolf Brázdil, Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)

"The authors offer a truly interdisciplinary combination of history and science in order to explore the complex relationships of climate and society over the past millennium. They demonstrate convincingly that climate change is nothing new while at the same time revealing the character of the unprecedented climatic epoch mankind now faces." Prof. Dr. Jan de Vries, Professor Emeritus of History and Economics, University of California, Berkeley (USA)

Christian Pfister (left) is Professor Emeritus of Economic, Social and Environmental History at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He was founding president of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH). Heinz Wanner is Professor Emeritus of Geography and Climatology. He was co-chair of the international Past Global Changes (PAGES) project and a member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Both scientists work at the renowned Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern.