In his latest book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History, Oxford historian Peter Frankopan traverses a wide span, geographically and historically, to map the role of climate in the history of civilisation. Through the story of the rise and fall of kingdoms, empires and colonies, he argues that humanity’s current engagement with global warming isn’t new and the attempts at decoding the whims of climate processes, consequences of over-exploiting nature, controlling climate and ecological crises have been central to the concerns of thinkers and rulers for long.
In the introduction, you write that ‘The book will explain how our world has always been one of transformation, transition and change because outside the Garden of Eden, time doesn’t stand still.’ Historians have always been chronicling change and the various ages (stone, bronze, industrial, information) are witness to transformations humanity has wrought on Earth. What ‘untold’ aspects do you highlight?
