Fagan, Brian. The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization.

FAGAN, Brian. The long summer; how climate changed civilization. Basic Books. 284p. illus. notes. index. c2004. 0-465-02282-0. $15.00. SA

Brian Fagan is an archaeological writer who has written other books about climate change and history. Unlike many volumes about global warming, which are often filled with strident rhetoric or arcane science, this book looks at how civilization adjusted to the climatic and historic events that have shaped the earth we live on. It soon becomes apparent to the reader that the same cycles that affected human beings in 18,000 BC are determining the climate and lives of people living today. Each phase of human history as affected by climate is described in a way that brings great climatic events down to the level of day-today life, making our own phase part of the natural history of the planet.

Without looking for blame or even causes, the author mixes science and history with such a long view that the modern period extends from 1200 AD to the present. He concludes by chiding us for our inattentiveness and for how little we've learned from the past and then affirms his findings with extensive notes and an index. The book is highly readable and makes the problems of climate change real and significant for those who lived in the past and a warning for us living in the present. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advance students and adults. This code will help librarians and teacher working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.