Read by Michael Langan

For more than a century we've known that much of human evolution occurred in an Ice Age. Starting about fifteen thousand years ago, temperatures began to rise, the glaciers receded, and sea levels rose. The rise of human civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period, known as the Holocene. Until very recently we had no detailed record of climate changes during the Holocene. Now we do. In this engrossing and captivating look at the human effects of climate variability, Brian Fagan shows how climate functioned as what the historian Paul Kennedy described as one of the "deeper transformations" of history-a more important historical factor than we understand. "This highly readable account of climate changes and their impact brings together a very deep knowledge of archaeology with imaginative narrative…A fascinating and provocative book." "The Long Summer is a fascinating tale of humanity and climate, woven together seamlessly in the cloth of history."

Mode of access: World Wide Web