Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth

by William L. Thomas Jr. and Marston Bates

Book Overview

This book presents a large-scale multidisciplinary evaluation of what has happened and is happening to the earth under man's impress. It includes the papers presented by fifty-three eminent scholars... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226796035
• ISBN13: 9780226796031
• Release Date: August 1956
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 1236 Pages
• Weight: 3.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.7" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

This is a dated but seminal book on sustainable development

This is one of the few books, along with Careless Technology, Silent Spring, The Limits to Growth and others that really clarified the approach of humankind to nature. It is not a critique of modern technology or society, but an early and valuable presentation of the ecological consequences of human activities throughout history. I thoroughly recommend this book to any students of environmental studies or development issues.

Research on effects of prehistoric humans on the ecosystem.

This is an excellent, thoroughly readable collection of scientific studies concerning the role of prehistoric humans in changing the ecosystems they inhabited. The studies range from the extensive farming terraces of China over 5,000 years, to the possible creation of the Great Plains grass ecosystem through Amerindian burning for hunting purposes. Although somewhat dated, this book provides a scope of research that will not be found anywhere else. I read this book thirty years ago during my Anthropology graduate studies at UC Berkeley, and have never forgotten it. I am very happy to see it in print again.