This study is a balanced and comprehensive overview of the links between climate and man's advance from pre-history to modern times. It spans all periods of history, drawing upon demographic, economic, urban, religious and military perspectives. It is a synthesis of the many historical and scientific theories, which have arisen regarding man's progress through the ages. Central to the book is the question of whether climate variation is a fundamental trigger mechanism from which other historical sequences develop, or if climate variation is one amongst a number of other factors, decisive only...