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The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years
Brought to you by Penguin.
In this paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, of genocide and eco-cide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Drawing on an extraordinarily rich diversity of primary sources, he reckons with the ruins of Portuguese silver mining in Peru, British gold mining in South Africa, and oil extraction in Central Asia. He explores the railways and highways that brought humans to new terrains of battle against each other and against nature. Amrith’s account of the ways in which the First and Second World Wars involved the massive mobilization not only of men, but of other natural resources from around the globe, provides an essential new way of understanding war as an irreversible reshaping of the planet. He also reveals the reality of migration as consequence of environmental harm.
The imperial, globe-spanning pursuit of profit, joined with new forms of energy and new possibilities of freedom from hunger and discomfort, freedom to move and explore, has brought change to every inch of the Earth. Amrith relates, on the largest canvas, a mind-altering epic – vibrant with stories, characters, and vivid images – in which humanity might find the collective wisdom to save itself.
'Sunil Amrith has given us the most readable global environmental history yet... a towering achievement and a joy to read' - J. R. McNeil
'The Burning Earth is as beautiful as it is indispensable, as breathtaking as it is devastating. It answers questions most of us have been too daft even to ask. It will set you on fire' - Jill Lepore, author of These A History of the United States
'A devastating panorama of human folly, a poetic meditation on how the search for freedom from nature undermined the very conditions for life on earth. Beautifully written, Sunil Amrith’s global and long-term view is crucial to understanding the environmental predicaments we are in, and, perhaps, to restore a distraught world. A must read for anyone concerned with the state of the planet' - Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton
'Memorable and mesmerizing. Sunil Amrith has gifted us a page-turner of a book, written with passionate lucidity' - Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
In this paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, of genocide and eco-cide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Drawing on an extraordinarily rich diversity of primary sources, he reckons with the ruins of Portuguese silver mining in Peru, British gold mining in South Africa, and oil extraction in Central Asia. He explores the railways and highways that brought humans to new terrains of battle against each other and against nature. Amrith’s account of the ways in which the First and Second World Wars involved the massive mobilization not only of men, but of other natural resources from around the globe, provides an essential new way of understanding war as an irreversible reshaping of the planet. He also reveals the reality of migration as consequence of environmental harm.
The imperial, globe-spanning pursuit of profit, joined with new forms of energy and new possibilities of freedom from hunger and discomfort, freedom to move and explore, has brought change to every inch of the Earth. Amrith relates, on the largest canvas, a mind-altering epic – vibrant with stories, characters, and vivid images – in which humanity might find the collective wisdom to save itself.
'Sunil Amrith has given us the most readable global environmental history yet... a towering achievement and a joy to read' - J. R. McNeil
'The Burning Earth is as beautiful as it is indispensable, as breathtaking as it is devastating. It answers questions most of us have been too daft even to ask. It will set you on fire' - Jill Lepore, author of These A History of the United States
'A devastating panorama of human folly, a poetic meditation on how the search for freedom from nature undermined the very conditions for life on earth. Beautifully written, Sunil Amrith’s global and long-term view is crucial to understanding the environmental predicaments we are in, and, perhaps, to restore a distraught world. A must read for anyone concerned with the state of the planet' - Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton
'Memorable and mesmerizing. Sunil Amrith has gifted us a page-turner of a book, written with passionate lucidity' - Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
432 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2024
205 people are currently reading
4151 people want to read
About the author
Sunil Amrith
14 books39 followersSunil Amrith is Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History, and a Director of the Joint Center for History and Economics.
Sunil Amrith grew up in Singapore, and received a B.A. (2000) and Ph.D. (2005) from the University of Cambridge. He was a research fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge (2004–2006) and taught modern Asian history at Birkbeck College of the University of London (2006–2014) prior to joining the faculty of Harvard University, where he is currently Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and a professor of history. He is also a director of the Harvard Center for History and Economics. His additional publications include Decolonizing International Health: India and Southeast Asia, 1930–65 (2006) and Sites of Asian Interaction: Ideas, Networks and Mobility (co-editor, 2014).
His research is on the trans-regional movement of people, ideas, and institutions, and has focused most recently on the Bay of Bengal as a region connecting South and Southeast Asia. Amrith's areas of particular interest include the history of migration, environmental history, and the history of public health. He is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow, and received the 2016 Infosys Prize in Humanities.
Sunil Amrith is a historian exploring migration in South and Southeast Asia and its role in shaping present-day social and cultural dynamics. His focus on migration, rather than political forces such as colonial empires and the formation of modern nations, demonstrates that South Asia (primarily India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) and Southeast Asia (including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore) are tied by centuries of movement of people and goods around and across the Bay of Bengal.
In Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia (2011) and Crossing the Bay of Bengal (2013), Amrith combines the theoretical frameworks of oceanic and environmental history with archival, ethnographic, and visual research to chart how migration transformed individuals, families, and communities. Using narratives and records left by coastal traders, merchants, and migrants, he evokes the lives of ordinary Indians who made homes in new lands across the bay. Amrith's examination of the emergence of diverse, multiethnic coastal communities sheds new light on the social and political consequences of colonization. Colonialism diminished some of the intimate cultural, social, and economic connections among the peoples of coastal areas while enabling new ones. Many bonds finally snapped during decolonization, however, when defining national boundaries and national identity became the priority.
Amrith's analysis of the forces driving migration in Crossing the Bay of Bengal takes into account the ways in which climatic patterns around the bay defined the lives of migrants and coastal residents. He will expand on this work in his current project on the history of environmental change in Asia, focusing particularly on the monsoon in the context of a changing climate. Amrith is leading a reorientation of South and Southeast Asian history and opening new avenues for understanding the region's place in global history.
Amrith's most recent book is Unruly Waters (Basic Books and Penguin UK), a history of the struggle to understand and control water in modern South Asia. His previous book, Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants (Harvard University Press, 2013) was awarded the American Historical Association's John F. Richards Prize in South Asian History in 2014. He is also the author of Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Decolonizing International Health: South and Southeast Asia, 1930-1965 (Palgrave, 2006), as well as articles in journals including the American Historical Review, Past and Present, and Economic and Political Weekly.
Amrith sits on the editorial boards of Modern Asian Studies and is one of the series editors of the Cambr
Sunil Amrith grew up in Singapore, and received a B.A. (2000) and Ph.D. (2005) from the University of Cambridge. He was a research fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge (2004–2006) and taught modern Asian history at Birkbeck College of the University of London (2006–2014) prior to joining the faculty of Harvard University, where he is currently Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and a professor of history. He is also a director of the Harvard Center for History and Economics. His additional publications include Decolonizing International Health: India and Southeast Asia, 1930–65 (2006) and Sites of Asian Interaction: Ideas, Networks and Mobility (co-editor, 2014).
His research is on the trans-regional movement of people, ideas, and institutions, and has focused most recently on the Bay of Bengal as a region connecting South and Southeast Asia. Amrith's areas of particular interest include the history of migration, environmental history, and the history of public health. He is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow, and received the 2016 Infosys Prize in Humanities.
Sunil Amrith is a historian exploring migration in South and Southeast Asia and its role in shaping present-day social and cultural dynamics. His focus on migration, rather than political forces such as colonial empires and the formation of modern nations, demonstrates that South Asia (primarily India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) and Southeast Asia (including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore) are tied by centuries of movement of people and goods around and across the Bay of Bengal.
In Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia (2011) and Crossing the Bay of Bengal (2013), Amrith combines the theoretical frameworks of oceanic and environmental history with archival, ethnographic, and visual research to chart how migration transformed individuals, families, and communities. Using narratives and records left by coastal traders, merchants, and migrants, he evokes the lives of ordinary Indians who made homes in new lands across the bay. Amrith's examination of the emergence of diverse, multiethnic coastal communities sheds new light on the social and political consequences of colonization. Colonialism diminished some of the intimate cultural, social, and economic connections among the peoples of coastal areas while enabling new ones. Many bonds finally snapped during decolonization, however, when defining national boundaries and national identity became the priority.
Amrith's analysis of the forces driving migration in Crossing the Bay of Bengal takes into account the ways in which climatic patterns around the bay defined the lives of migrants and coastal residents. He will expand on this work in his current project on the history of environmental change in Asia, focusing particularly on the monsoon in the context of a changing climate. Amrith is leading a reorientation of South and Southeast Asian history and opening new avenues for understanding the region's place in global history.
Amrith's most recent book is Unruly Waters (Basic Books and Penguin UK), a history of the struggle to understand and control water in modern South Asia. His previous book, Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants (Harvard University Press, 2013) was awarded the American Historical Association's John F. Richards Prize in South Asian History in 2014. He is also the author of Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Decolonizing International Health: South and Southeast Asia, 1930-1965 (Palgrave, 2006), as well as articles in journals including the American Historical Review, Past and Present, and Economic and Political Weekly.
Amrith sits on the editorial boards of Modern Asian Studies and is one of the series editors of the Cambr
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
December 27, 2024
Once upon a time all history was environmental history.
That is the first line of this well told audio by the author Sunil Amrith. I would have thought all history is environmental, even that in the making.
The author discussed many events that I have read about in some depth. The Mongol invasions for example, but I had not read discussions previously as to the changing of the land from grazing to crop production. The discussion on the Little Ice age and the possible cause being the conquest of the South American continent by the Spanish I had read about. The discussion on Nipah virus in Malaysia was interesting as it was linked, in terms of propagation, to the Hendra Virus that occurred in Brisbane in the early 2010s. Hendra caused the death of 4 people and 83 horses. Nipah bought on the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs and the deaths of over 100 people. The cause? Flying Fox having to move from their natural environment due to deforestation. As a species, we change our environment at our peril.
Recommended to those with an interest in the subject.
That is the first line of this well told audio by the author Sunil Amrith. I would have thought all history is environmental, even that in the making.
The author discussed many events that I have read about in some depth. The Mongol invasions for example, but I had not read discussions previously as to the changing of the land from grazing to crop production. The discussion on the Little Ice age and the possible cause being the conquest of the South American continent by the Spanish I had read about. The discussion on Nipah virus in Malaysia was interesting as it was linked, in terms of propagation, to the Hendra Virus that occurred in Brisbane in the early 2010s. Hendra caused the death of 4 people and 83 horses. Nipah bought on the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs and the deaths of over 100 people. The cause? Flying Fox having to move from their natural environment due to deforestation. As a species, we change our environment at our peril.
Recommended to those with an interest in the subject.
November 22, 2024
This a very informative history of how the exploitation of the earth mineral and fossil resources that power our technological innovations, have become a multiplier of brutality in class and race segregation, war, and ever increasing greed to exploit people and the land by a self-selected few. In the later chapters the author deals with the ever increasing cost we are paying for in global warming and pollution.
August 23, 2024
Only after reading a book like Amrith’s does it become clear that all histories can be written as at least in part environmental histories.
Read
February 12, 2025if you're reading this book, put it down and read Degrowth by Jason Hickel instead. the more i have thought/talked about this book, the more I have realized how spineless and unhelpful it is. I feel like it does a good job putting together a historical narrative but a leaves the reader with no real understanding of WHY everything is so fucked up and its chapter about "solutions" is a laughably short chapter about video games and Kpop fans and Optimism without saying directly the real problem with our world which is CAPITALISM. he sort of hint hint wink winks at it but its not enough. I kind of ended this book being like "man, i guess people fucking suck and we should all die or something." his whole thesis is that growth (and therefore planetary destruction) and freedom are inextricable but they aren't. capitalism just makes us feel that way. the only people whose freedom is threatened by the end of capitalism/degrowth are the rich and powerful's. literally we would all be way more "free" and happy if we had a society that spread resources fairly. so i have no idea, for a story that centers the global south and the colonized so much, why he shies away from pointing this out. and if he was trying to say all of this but I just missed it, then it needs to be a lot more fucking obvious to the reader what your point of view is. the stakes are too high right now.
May 2, 2025
I assigned Amrith's book in my introductory economic history course, which generally has a good mix of students from many disciplines, from business administration to engineering to occupational therapy. The students' response was very positive, and it is easily my favorite book that I have assigned for this class, both in terms of how well I felt it did the job I wanted it to do (cover global economic history from a less-Eurocentric perspective) as well as how much I myself learned from it and appreciated the examples it drew from. Amrith is an elegant writer and is masterful at moving across the globe swiftly to make clear and compelling connections between economic, military, and ecological events.
December 21, 2024
It’s a downer, no doubt, and the few pages at the end intended to provide a more positive conclusion fail. But I can’t imagine anyone picking up the book not knowing all of that going in. It belongs to that genre of masochistic climate change porn that die hard environmentalists have thrived on —when it provided facts to try to reverse the human course of self destruction. Now that we have crossed several tipping points, books like this merely catalogue our failings and add to the anxiety that comes with caring about what we have lost and knowing it didn’t need to be like this.
October 22, 2024
I reviewed this book for Undark magazine.
https://undark.org/2024/10/18/book-re...
https://undark.org/2024/10/18/book-re...
June 26, 2025
One can summarize this book with a phrase: "We're cooked." Sunil Amrith explores how historically the human ambition simply disregarded the health of rivers, the viability of forests, and the suffering of animals in order to advance its own interests. This was a good piece of environmental history. Amrith splits the book in three parts starting with human development in 1200s and ending it with the situation we find ourselves in 2025. The author presents different ways humans attempted to free themselves from the constraints of nature and the tools they created in order to tame it. Overall, this was an interesting survey of the role human needs and desires played in the gradual destruction of Earth.
January 10, 2025
Powerful, objective and frightening. Really ambitious in its scope and tells the story so well. Much more accessible and digestible than something like Frankopan which makes it all the more important.
November 28, 2025
A really thorough overview of how greed and inequality underpins the climate crisis. Very depressing and a bit 'dry' in parts but very important nonetheless. My favourite chapters were the final ones (17-20) which really put climate destruction into our current context.
June 23, 2025
I was really impressed by the ambition and scope of this as a synoptic narrative, and its judicious selection of particularly illustrative episodes and geographies. The author’s expertise in south Asian history and migrancy brought refreshing perspectives, as did his focus on war and environment. The prose and narrative style were very polished.
The emphasis of the chronology probably understandably skewed towards later modernity, but as a result I thought the engagement with medieval and early modern periods was a little rushed - especially as the later end of the chronology felt more familiar to me (and I imagine to readers generally). Amrith’s articulation of intellectual environmental history was clunkier, but I can the see the difficulty of weaving this into such a broad narrative ultimately focused on demography, economics and resources. The very long, ambitious chronology was incredibly well handled, but as with any narrative of this scale it resulted in quite an opaque argument - and a lacklustre conclusion. I also thought the author’s attention to demography and environmental limits at points strayed into the malthusian logics he elsewhere very effectively critiqued (viewing population as a causative factor in eg resource distribution, rather than a symptom).
All the same, I learned so much from this and hope I will come back to it many times. The author is an incredibly skilled writer as well as a historian, and I found reading this a really valuable experience. It’s hard to encompass just how much this book achieves, and it was refreshing to read environmental literature which so carefully centres justice and decoloniality in its thinking.
The emphasis of the chronology probably understandably skewed towards later modernity, but as a result I thought the engagement with medieval and early modern periods was a little rushed - especially as the later end of the chronology felt more familiar to me (and I imagine to readers generally). Amrith’s articulation of intellectual environmental history was clunkier, but I can the see the difficulty of weaving this into such a broad narrative ultimately focused on demography, economics and resources. The very long, ambitious chronology was incredibly well handled, but as with any narrative of this scale it resulted in quite an opaque argument - and a lacklustre conclusion. I also thought the author’s attention to demography and environmental limits at points strayed into the malthusian logics he elsewhere very effectively critiqued (viewing population as a causative factor in eg resource distribution, rather than a symptom).
All the same, I learned so much from this and hope I will come back to it many times. The author is an incredibly skilled writer as well as a historian, and I found reading this a really valuable experience. It’s hard to encompass just how much this book achieves, and it was refreshing to read environmental literature which so carefully centres justice and decoloniality in its thinking.
December 27, 2024
This eloquent and thoughtful work of non-fiction takes on an ecological lens to examine the history of the last 500 years. The author samples from examples from a variety of time periods and geographic locations to explain how agriculture, trade, industry, and population growth have harmed the planet and its inhabitants.
Like other readers, I appreciated how much Amrith focused on how these issues tend to disproportionately harm the poorest members of society, from the international to the individual scale. I thought his writing was thorough and descriptive without being pedantic or over the top.
While I enjoyed many of the individual anecdotes in this book, I found it a bit incoherent and scattered. I think some additional distillation around a central purpose could have helped this book feel more complete.
Like other readers, I appreciated how much Amrith focused on how these issues tend to disproportionately harm the poorest members of society, from the international to the individual scale. I thought his writing was thorough and descriptive without being pedantic or over the top.
While I enjoyed many of the individual anecdotes in this book, I found it a bit incoherent and scattered. I think some additional distillation around a central purpose could have helped this book feel more complete.
January 9, 2025
Very interesting history of the intertwined relationship between nature and humans, specifically focusing on ecological exploitation. Politics, power, and greed all contribute throughout history in the brutality of those who are vulnerable, poor, or disenfranchised. While this book at points seems scattered and a bit disorganized, I can't fault the author. How could you summarize the history of the earth and it's major ecological impacts without it being a bit disorganized? Amrith does an excellent job with hundreds of sources and references to back his claims, statistics, and facts. Overall a super compelling and fun read!
July 29, 2025
The Burning Earth - A History.
A fairly easy read (though a distinct style that I had to adapt to). A fascinating history of the ongoing desecration of the earth from the earliest agricultural, cultural migrations, deforestation, wars, industrial chemicals and more wars and then pesticides etc... good historical info, told well. I like that it is global in nature and really covers more of India, Asia, Africa and South America than we normally expect in our western perspective.
What I enjoyed about this book, like any good history is shifting of my mindset. I think many of us have the perspective that our world’s Going to hell in a hand basket (GtHiaHB) is a recent thing, maybe primarily since WW2, or at most since the Industrial Revolution and the oil pulse (and it is, primarily). Yet this book reveals, to my new insight, how much all of past civilization has dramatically transformed the ecosystems of the planet, well before the Industrial Revolution.
Supported by a belief that either by right or hubris, man has the power to control and conquer nature for our needs and wants. Man’s pursuit of wealth and power has depended on the remolding of nature and the environment. We have waged a continual war on nature.
“The degradation and sacrifice of nature is the necessary price of human freedom and want.”
These age old ideals have become synonymous with the pervasive essence of war. A people’s success in war has been the control over land its produce and resources.
And yet while we have come of age to an awareness of our hubris, we continue the battle on new ground in securing control of land and rights to rare earth metals and minerals.
With our modern enthusiasm and techno optimism that we can continue to solve our problems with more investment in the hubris of our control over nature, I take away a skeptical view that our climate and geo-engineering solutions still stare down the barrel of Nature. We are not very good at considering unintended, downstream consequences.
The book ends with the more recent history of environmental movements, the rise of environmental and social justice movements and the ongoing war against environmentalists waged by big energy interests.
Finally closes with some words of guidance in hope of any future positive outcomes:
Words from India Gandhi, “efforts at environmental protection will simply fail if they proceed in isolation from social justice”
(and yet, I am fond of the quote - “there is no justice on a dead planet”… that this book shared in a revamped quote, “there is no K-pop on a dead planet”)
We need to give a voice to nature in human decision making.
We need to repair the human relationship with the rest of nature.
There can be no victory in a war against nature.
And louder, for the back of the room, “ecological destruction undermines the support systems that sustain the only habitable planet.”
A fairly easy read (though a distinct style that I had to adapt to). A fascinating history of the ongoing desecration of the earth from the earliest agricultural, cultural migrations, deforestation, wars, industrial chemicals and more wars and then pesticides etc... good historical info, told well. I like that it is global in nature and really covers more of India, Asia, Africa and South America than we normally expect in our western perspective.
What I enjoyed about this book, like any good history is shifting of my mindset. I think many of us have the perspective that our world’s Going to hell in a hand basket (GtHiaHB) is a recent thing, maybe primarily since WW2, or at most since the Industrial Revolution and the oil pulse (and it is, primarily). Yet this book reveals, to my new insight, how much all of past civilization has dramatically transformed the ecosystems of the planet, well before the Industrial Revolution.
Supported by a belief that either by right or hubris, man has the power to control and conquer nature for our needs and wants. Man’s pursuit of wealth and power has depended on the remolding of nature and the environment. We have waged a continual war on nature.
“The degradation and sacrifice of nature is the necessary price of human freedom and want.”
These age old ideals have become synonymous with the pervasive essence of war. A people’s success in war has been the control over land its produce and resources.
And yet while we have come of age to an awareness of our hubris, we continue the battle on new ground in securing control of land and rights to rare earth metals and minerals.
With our modern enthusiasm and techno optimism that we can continue to solve our problems with more investment in the hubris of our control over nature, I take away a skeptical view that our climate and geo-engineering solutions still stare down the barrel of Nature. We are not very good at considering unintended, downstream consequences.
The book ends with the more recent history of environmental movements, the rise of environmental and social justice movements and the ongoing war against environmentalists waged by big energy interests.
Finally closes with some words of guidance in hope of any future positive outcomes:
Words from India Gandhi, “efforts at environmental protection will simply fail if they proceed in isolation from social justice”
(and yet, I am fond of the quote - “there is no justice on a dead planet”… that this book shared in a revamped quote, “there is no K-pop on a dead planet”)
We need to give a voice to nature in human decision making.
We need to repair the human relationship with the rest of nature.
There can be no victory in a war against nature.
And louder, for the back of the room, “ecological destruction undermines the support systems that sustain the only habitable planet.”
July 29, 2025
"In the beginning, all history was environmental history."
This book is a complex treatise on the history of humanity's relationship with the environment, and its attempts to transcend the creatureliness that places us within the broad "confines"(as many of the imperialist movements depicted in this book will have you believe) of nature. The book starts from the pre-industrial societies of yore, then moves on to the industrialisation period, dedicating a significant pagecount to this time, and finally goes to speak of the rise of a global environmental consciousness and our attempts to develop a language to speak of the issues, as well as the quest for developing the actual solutions to these issues.
The thesis and core idea that runs through the book and underpins many of the arguments is how violence and cruelty against human communities is deeply and unarguably tied to violence and cruelty against the environment, both coming hand in hand - the forces of exploitation and profit seeking do not discriminate (ironically) in what "resources" are being exploited, stemming from a shortsighted lack of ability to see their intrinsic value beyond the potential for wealth and profits. This core idea is most explicitly expressed in the portion of the book on the industrialised era, drawing from around the world of examples of colonialisation, the Transatlantic slave trade, and indentured labour, although it continues to underpin latter parts as well, such as the evolution of sustainable development and environmental movements.
I appreciate how well researched this book is (more than 30% of this book is dedicated to the citations and index sections, which is just truly next level). Other books on global histories I have read tend to have problems of underrepresentation and omission - "global" only applying to certain regions or countries with many regions left out. This book feels like an antidote in how well it represented different parts of the world, global finally meaning truly global. These were also not disparate examples, as connections are made to other events across time and space, making the narration very cohesive overall.
Fair warning must be provided - this was a very emotionally heavy read, but deeply important.
This book is a complex treatise on the history of humanity's relationship with the environment, and its attempts to transcend the creatureliness that places us within the broad "confines"(as many of the imperialist movements depicted in this book will have you believe) of nature. The book starts from the pre-industrial societies of yore, then moves on to the industrialisation period, dedicating a significant pagecount to this time, and finally goes to speak of the rise of a global environmental consciousness and our attempts to develop a language to speak of the issues, as well as the quest for developing the actual solutions to these issues.
The thesis and core idea that runs through the book and underpins many of the arguments is how violence and cruelty against human communities is deeply and unarguably tied to violence and cruelty against the environment, both coming hand in hand - the forces of exploitation and profit seeking do not discriminate (ironically) in what "resources" are being exploited, stemming from a shortsighted lack of ability to see their intrinsic value beyond the potential for wealth and profits. This core idea is most explicitly expressed in the portion of the book on the industrialised era, drawing from around the world of examples of colonialisation, the Transatlantic slave trade, and indentured labour, although it continues to underpin latter parts as well, such as the evolution of sustainable development and environmental movements.
I appreciate how well researched this book is (more than 30% of this book is dedicated to the citations and index sections, which is just truly next level). Other books on global histories I have read tend to have problems of underrepresentation and omission - "global" only applying to certain regions or countries with many regions left out. This book feels like an antidote in how well it represented different parts of the world, global finally meaning truly global. These were also not disparate examples, as connections are made to other events across time and space, making the narration very cohesive overall.
Fair warning must be provided - this was a very emotionally heavy read, but deeply important.
December 29, 2024
Ik wil dit een beter boek vinden, maar Amrith probeert gewoon te veel te doen in 1 boek. Een geschiedenis van hoe de mensheid het milieu beïnvloed sinds het jaar 1000 over de hele wereld, van vervuiling tot ontbossing tot klimaatverandering. En dan ook nog eens de impact die het milieu/weer/klimaat impact heeft op de menselijke geschiedenis. En dan ook nog eens een soort van geschiedenis van en pleidooi over environmentalism. Dat allemaal op 350 pagina's leidt helaas tot een vrij oppervlakkig boek. Er zitten echt toffe stukken in. Amrith kan goed schrijven, zeker de historische beschrijvingen van bijvoorbeeld mijnbouw begin twintigste eeuw of de oliestad Baku waren erg goed. Er zaten ook af en toe wel leuke nieuwe feitjes tussen. Maar al met al, ondanks hoe goed de boodschap ook is, kwam ik nooit echt helemaal into het boek.
October 22, 2025
some great points but gets overshadowed by pure bulk of the book. Last 100 pages were actually engaging and interesting for the most part. I did appreciate the all-encompassing perspective of environmental history which you don't see often. And a little bit of climate optimism as well was refreshing.
Read
January 16, 2025mughal empire mentioned
Read
July 16, 2025my reading habits can basically be described as always having 1 non-fiction audiobook, and 10 fiction ebooks at any given time
November 8, 2024
5 sterren , bij momenten was het stil in mijn hoofd bij deze nieuwe informatie en andere kijk op geschiedenis gebeurtenissen , er komt veel in voor ( nieuwe informatie/inzichten waar mijn nieuwsgierig brein blij mee is ). , bv over het nipahvirus , kolonisatie geschiedenis van Siberië, gasaanvallen in eerste wereldoorlog, wat er wordt gevormd met na/fteenzuur en palm/itinezuur , de kwalijke kanten waar wetenschap kan voor gebruikt worden , wat bracero is , vooral ook een geschiedenis van de meer naamlozen ( slachtoffers ) in plaats van de geschiedenis van leiders , …. De meeste lezers zijn waarschijnlijk meer geïnteresseerd in de geschiedenis van leiders , ( bij momenten ik ook ) toch ligt de grond bezaaid met botten en as van naamlozen die gezorgd hebben voor de al dan niet weelderigheid van vandaag de dag , het zijn ook de naamlozen die er nu voor zorgen ,
5 sterren een boek voor mensen die eens een andere kijk op de geschiedenis willen lezen,
5 sterren een boek voor mensen die eens een andere kijk op de geschiedenis willen lezen,
February 3, 2025
Well-written, winding tales of environmental tomfoolery over the last 500+ years. Pulled out lots of fantastic quotes and am reconvinced that history rhymes. I have a new perspective on 3rd world development because of this book.
December 13, 2024
I was expecting a little more from a book that made so many Top 10 of 2024 lists. Reading this book was not the profound experience for me as it was for others. Other books dealing with environmental impact/anticomsumption/anticapitalism books (A Poison Like No Other, Uninhabitable Earth, Post Growth Living, The Insect Crisis, The day the world stops shopping) cover much of the same ground and I would recommend some of those before this one.
I do want to highlight somethings that I thought this book does well. For one, I think it really outlines how the ascension of capitalism impacted enslaved people (and subsequently the environment). Other books that I listed often touch on environmental impacts and loss of ways of life for indigenous people, but don't hit the slavery angle quite as well. The book also does a good job of taking a global perspective compared to similar books. It looks at specific instances in specific regions and notes the differences in both impacts and remedies in different nations. It also cogently organizes climate impact for the Global North and Global South better than any other books I have read in this area. Finally, the last chapter of this book is as good as any writing I have read on the topic of environmental impact. That pushes it from 3 stars to 4. Personally, I don't see myself re-reading this book in the future except for that last chapter.
I do want to highlight somethings that I thought this book does well. For one, I think it really outlines how the ascension of capitalism impacted enslaved people (and subsequently the environment). Other books that I listed often touch on environmental impacts and loss of ways of life for indigenous people, but don't hit the slavery angle quite as well. The book also does a good job of taking a global perspective compared to similar books. It looks at specific instances in specific regions and notes the differences in both impacts and remedies in different nations. It also cogently organizes climate impact for the Global North and Global South better than any other books I have read in this area. Finally, the last chapter of this book is as good as any writing I have read on the topic of environmental impact. That pushes it from 3 stars to 4. Personally, I don't see myself re-reading this book in the future except for that last chapter.
July 5, 2025
The Burning Earth by Sunil Amri provides an overview of history from an environmental perspective.
A warm climatic period during the medieval era spurred agricultural expansion across Eurasia, which, in turn, caused a population boom. This growth, coupled with the rise of empires, led to increased trade and the exchange of ideas and technologies. However, natural disasters and the Black Plague later devastated societies and populations.
The 15th century saw European exploration aimed at accessing Asia after the fall of the Mongol Empire and the rise of Muslim kingdoms, which closed overland trade routes. In the newly discovered lands, Europeans decimated indigenous populations through violence and disease while introducing invasive species. They also polluted the Andes through gold and silver mining.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Russian, Chinese, and Indian empires expanded, increasing both economic wealth and agricultural output. More wilderness was cleared for cultivation, and fur-bearing animals were hunted to near extinction.
The transatlantic slave trade brought millions of Africans to the Americas to exploit what seemed like endless natural resources, initially focusing on sugar production, which was environmentally devastating.
The Industrial Revolution marked the beginning of widespread fossil fuel use, disrupting societies through mass migrations of displaced people and the rampant pollution of air and water. As populations grew, agricultural output expanded, and crops were increasingly exported as part of a global market, leaving farmers at the mercy of fluctuating prices. Animal slaughter occurred on an industrial scale, and colonialism reached its zenith, exacerbating inequality and causing immense suffering among the colonized.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, the advent of new technologies and the entrenchment of a racial caste system facilitated the extraction of gold for British colonizers, financing the growth of the global economy at the turn of the 20th century.
In Baku, the extraction of oil, which was increasingly used as fuel, generated vast wealth, but not for the workers. This inequality fueled radical politics, including for a young Joseph Stalin. But then ethnic conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis destroyed the industrial oil infrastructure in 1905.
The technological advances of the Industrial Revolution also contributed to the extreme lethality of World War I, with new weapons such as tanks, airplanes, and more powerful artillery enabling mass killings of both people and animals, while also devastating the environments in which battles were fought.
Fear of ecological limits spurred both Germany and Japan toward imperial expansion as they sought to control natural resources they believed were necessary for their prosperity.
World War II saw mass famines that killed millions across the globe. The scale of destruction—both human and environmental—was unprecedented, culminating in the use of nuclear weapons, which introduced the power to destroy humanity and much of life on Earth.
After the war, newly freed countries, having fought for independence, sought economic development, but often at great cost. The results were catastrophic in some cases, such as the millions who died during China’s Great Leap Forward or those displaced by large dam projects. This postwar period has been referred to as the "Great Acceleration," marked by significant advancements in public health that extended human life, but also by extreme increases in pollution and resource depletion.
In the 1960s and 70s, rising environmental awareness, spurred by figures like Rachel Carson, highlighted the dangers of chemical and other types of pollution, with incidents such as oil spills becoming more common. The agricultural revolution, which drove mass migration from rural areas to cities, was both a contributing factor to a population boom and a source of chemical pollution.
Developed nations pointed to overpopulation as a root cause of these problems, a perspective that was often seen by poorer nations as an accusation that threatened their development while they struggled to catch up economically. Some countries, however, like India and China, responded by implementing population control measures.
Deforestation of tropical rainforests began in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1980s, driven by the conversion of forests into agricultural land for export and by authoritarian regimes installed after U.S.-backed coups.
In the 1980s and 90s, the environmental movement went global. Governments were pressured into action, first with an international agreement to address the ozone hole, and later on other environmental concerns, including proposals to tackle climate change. In response, oil companies launched public relations campaigns to sow doubt about the science of climate change. Environmental activists in developing countries were targeted, and some were even murdered, such as Ken Saro-Wiwa of Nigeria, whom I had advocated for during my college years as the head of the campus Amnesty International group, prior to his execution.
We have already passed several environmental tipping points, and climate change is rapidly approaching others. Addressing this crisis will require action on multiple fronts, incorporating social justice, local context, and historical understanding into any solutions. However, this will be an exceedingly challenging task.
All of history is, in a sense, environmental history because everything we do—and civilization itself—rests upon the foundation of nature and Earth's living ecology.
I was excited about the concept of this book, but in reading it I felt that it was often too general, with some chapters covering hundreds of years in a single sweep. This made it lack depth. While there were intriguing nuggets of information, the narrative lacked cohesion overall.
A warm climatic period during the medieval era spurred agricultural expansion across Eurasia, which, in turn, caused a population boom. This growth, coupled with the rise of empires, led to increased trade and the exchange of ideas and technologies. However, natural disasters and the Black Plague later devastated societies and populations.
The 15th century saw European exploration aimed at accessing Asia after the fall of the Mongol Empire and the rise of Muslim kingdoms, which closed overland trade routes. In the newly discovered lands, Europeans decimated indigenous populations through violence and disease while introducing invasive species. They also polluted the Andes through gold and silver mining.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Russian, Chinese, and Indian empires expanded, increasing both economic wealth and agricultural output. More wilderness was cleared for cultivation, and fur-bearing animals were hunted to near extinction.
The transatlantic slave trade brought millions of Africans to the Americas to exploit what seemed like endless natural resources, initially focusing on sugar production, which was environmentally devastating.
The Industrial Revolution marked the beginning of widespread fossil fuel use, disrupting societies through mass migrations of displaced people and the rampant pollution of air and water. As populations grew, agricultural output expanded, and crops were increasingly exported as part of a global market, leaving farmers at the mercy of fluctuating prices. Animal slaughter occurred on an industrial scale, and colonialism reached its zenith, exacerbating inequality and causing immense suffering among the colonized.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, the advent of new technologies and the entrenchment of a racial caste system facilitated the extraction of gold for British colonizers, financing the growth of the global economy at the turn of the 20th century.
In Baku, the extraction of oil, which was increasingly used as fuel, generated vast wealth, but not for the workers. This inequality fueled radical politics, including for a young Joseph Stalin. But then ethnic conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis destroyed the industrial oil infrastructure in 1905.
The technological advances of the Industrial Revolution also contributed to the extreme lethality of World War I, with new weapons such as tanks, airplanes, and more powerful artillery enabling mass killings of both people and animals, while also devastating the environments in which battles were fought.
Fear of ecological limits spurred both Germany and Japan toward imperial expansion as they sought to control natural resources they believed were necessary for their prosperity.
World War II saw mass famines that killed millions across the globe. The scale of destruction—both human and environmental—was unprecedented, culminating in the use of nuclear weapons, which introduced the power to destroy humanity and much of life on Earth.
After the war, newly freed countries, having fought for independence, sought economic development, but often at great cost. The results were catastrophic in some cases, such as the millions who died during China’s Great Leap Forward or those displaced by large dam projects. This postwar period has been referred to as the "Great Acceleration," marked by significant advancements in public health that extended human life, but also by extreme increases in pollution and resource depletion.
In the 1960s and 70s, rising environmental awareness, spurred by figures like Rachel Carson, highlighted the dangers of chemical and other types of pollution, with incidents such as oil spills becoming more common. The agricultural revolution, which drove mass migration from rural areas to cities, was both a contributing factor to a population boom and a source of chemical pollution.
Developed nations pointed to overpopulation as a root cause of these problems, a perspective that was often seen by poorer nations as an accusation that threatened their development while they struggled to catch up economically. Some countries, however, like India and China, responded by implementing population control measures.
Deforestation of tropical rainforests began in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1980s, driven by the conversion of forests into agricultural land for export and by authoritarian regimes installed after U.S.-backed coups.
In the 1980s and 90s, the environmental movement went global. Governments were pressured into action, first with an international agreement to address the ozone hole, and later on other environmental concerns, including proposals to tackle climate change. In response, oil companies launched public relations campaigns to sow doubt about the science of climate change. Environmental activists in developing countries were targeted, and some were even murdered, such as Ken Saro-Wiwa of Nigeria, whom I had advocated for during my college years as the head of the campus Amnesty International group, prior to his execution.
We have already passed several environmental tipping points, and climate change is rapidly approaching others. Addressing this crisis will require action on multiple fronts, incorporating social justice, local context, and historical understanding into any solutions. However, this will be an exceedingly challenging task.
All of history is, in a sense, environmental history because everything we do—and civilization itself—rests upon the foundation of nature and Earth's living ecology.
I was excited about the concept of this book, but in reading it I felt that it was often too general, with some chapters covering hundreds of years in a single sweep. This made it lack depth. While there were intriguing nuggets of information, the narrative lacked cohesion overall.
August 21, 2025
As the title suggests, this is one of those books that try to cover a large span of history, in this case through an environmental lens. Much of it shows how the exploitation of the natural environment and that of marginalised and racialised humans has often been carried out in lockstep, the two joined in co-dependency like how slavery in American sugar plantations allowed cheap sugar to fuel the British working classes, and the damage by Shell's thousands of oil spills in Ogoniland which activist Ken Saro-Wiwa argued was a form of environmental genocide. It also highlights attempts to reverse this trend such as how Enrico Mattei, who led the Italian national oil company, helped break the oligopoly of the major oil companies and offered Middle East and African countries deals with sovereignty over their resources, yet died in an alleged CIA assassination.
An interesting chapter that stands out traces the lives and differing ideas of Hannah Arendt, Rachel Carson and Indira Gandhi as they relate to the environment and the beginnings of international attempts to regulate the damage to it, culminating in the 1972 United Nations Environmental Conference where Gandhi made a stirring speech about how "environmental degradation was primarily a problem of distribution, not of numbers". Notably, Amrith, who grew up in Singapore, mentions how Singapore's health minister responded to Gandhi saying that "if developed countries are genuinely interested in the improvement of the overall human environment" then they must be willing to contribute resources that poorer countries lacked. However, later on Gandhi's policies used ecological emergency to justify evicting indigenous Adivasi communities for tiger preserves, and began a programme to sterilise millions of poor Indians. I wish Amrith had gone further in exploring how and why the earlier radical environmental politics of global South countries did not come to fruition, and the role of western powers and corporations in blocking them.
As a work of history, The Burning Earth is successful in showing why all history is environmental, but it does not offer much in terms of political analysis and strategy on where to go in the face of the climate crisis apart from a superficial coverage of initiatives like KPop4Planet and climate video games. Look elsewhere if that is what you want, though a knowledge of history to understand how we got to today is also crucial for formulating plans about the future.
An interesting chapter that stands out traces the lives and differing ideas of Hannah Arendt, Rachel Carson and Indira Gandhi as they relate to the environment and the beginnings of international attempts to regulate the damage to it, culminating in the 1972 United Nations Environmental Conference where Gandhi made a stirring speech about how "environmental degradation was primarily a problem of distribution, not of numbers". Notably, Amrith, who grew up in Singapore, mentions how Singapore's health minister responded to Gandhi saying that "if developed countries are genuinely interested in the improvement of the overall human environment" then they must be willing to contribute resources that poorer countries lacked. However, later on Gandhi's policies used ecological emergency to justify evicting indigenous Adivasi communities for tiger preserves, and began a programme to sterilise millions of poor Indians. I wish Amrith had gone further in exploring how and why the earlier radical environmental politics of global South countries did not come to fruition, and the role of western powers and corporations in blocking them.
As a work of history, The Burning Earth is successful in showing why all history is environmental, but it does not offer much in terms of political analysis and strategy on where to go in the face of the climate crisis apart from a superficial coverage of initiatives like KPop4Planet and climate video games. Look elsewhere if that is what you want, though a knowledge of history to understand how we got to today is also crucial for formulating plans about the future.
November 27, 2025
Covering 500 years of environmental history in a relatively short book is no easy task and I think that Sunil Amrith does an excellent job. Coming into this without much background in the area, I can definitely say that I finish this book much better informed. However, he approaches the different periods from different angles, and I think that some of these approaches are more successful that others.
In the earlier sections, I was enthralled. There were so many new ideas being presented and from perspectives that I hadn't properly considered before. I appreciate that a lot of coverage is given to East Asia and South(east) Asia, regions that often get neglected or are delegated to being the secondary subjects of interactions when viewed through a Eurocentric lens. Furthermore, while there were a lot of ideas, there were clear links between them, themes that we kept coming back to: expansionism and its hidden costs, increasing agricultural yields and reliability, altered narratives to justify questionable actions. For just these earlier parts of the book, I would give 4 stars.
When we come to the second half, or perhaps the last third of the book, we lose some of this sharpness. I don't know if it was because some of the topics were of less interest to me (e.g. attempts and failures to create binding agreements for climate action) or because I was getting a little burnt out from trying to take in and hold all the new ideas in the book, but I found that I was less engaged.
The latter sections of the book explore a wider variety of ideas from before (because all throughout, we keep building on existing ideas: revisiting older ones and introducing newer ones) while not increasing the space for these ideas in proportion. So instead of a deep dive into a particular slice of history, we jump around a lot between different threads, some of them only strenuously connected. I think this rapid switches are another reason I started to lose steam towards the end.
Overall, this was a very interesting read. I've come away a little more enlightened, a little less ignorant. There are many threads here that I'm looking forward to picking up on in other books. If you're looking for a broad overview of history with a special consideration to how humans have tried to interact with the environment, I would recommend this book.
In the earlier sections, I was enthralled. There were so many new ideas being presented and from perspectives that I hadn't properly considered before. I appreciate that a lot of coverage is given to East Asia and South(east) Asia, regions that often get neglected or are delegated to being the secondary subjects of interactions when viewed through a Eurocentric lens. Furthermore, while there were a lot of ideas, there were clear links between them, themes that we kept coming back to: expansionism and its hidden costs, increasing agricultural yields and reliability, altered narratives to justify questionable actions. For just these earlier parts of the book, I would give 4 stars.
When we come to the second half, or perhaps the last third of the book, we lose some of this sharpness. I don't know if it was because some of the topics were of less interest to me (e.g. attempts and failures to create binding agreements for climate action) or because I was getting a little burnt out from trying to take in and hold all the new ideas in the book, but I found that I was less engaged.
The latter sections of the book explore a wider variety of ideas from before (because all throughout, we keep building on existing ideas: revisiting older ones and introducing newer ones) while not increasing the space for these ideas in proportion. So instead of a deep dive into a particular slice of history, we jump around a lot between different threads, some of them only strenuously connected. I think this rapid switches are another reason I started to lose steam towards the end.
Overall, this was a very interesting read. I've come away a little more enlightened, a little less ignorant. There are many threads here that I'm looking forward to picking up on in other books. If you're looking for a broad overview of history with a special consideration to how humans have tried to interact with the environment, I would recommend this book.
December 15, 2024
The author spends a lot of time diving into military history, but I feel like they miss the mark when it comes to major ecological disasters. For instance, while Agent Orange from the Vietnam War gets some attention, other huge environmental events like oil spills, nuclear accidents, and chemical warfare don't get enough focus. These are key moments in history that have had a massive impact on the environment and deserve more coverage.
The book also doesn't go deep enough into important environmental decisions or treaties. The Stockholm UN Conference is mentioned, but there's not much about the actual Stockholm Declaration. Big agreements like the Montreal Protocol, Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement are barely touched on, which feels like a missed opportunity to really dive into the international efforts that have shaped environmental policy. On a positive note, the Montreal Protocol does get some attention in Chapter 12, which is a good call.
Then there’s the epilogue, which feels a bit too optimistic for my taste. The author focuses more on smaller, feel-good efforts like "K-pop for Earth" and celebrity-driven campaigns, which, while nice, aren't enough to tackle the scale of the problem. Sure, grassroots movements are important, but the real change needs to come from big government policies and corporate accountability. Without that, it feels like we’re just spinning our wheels.
Overall, the book touches on some important points but doesn’t go deep enough into the ecological disasters and global solutions that are truly needed. It's a good read but could have done more to address the bigger picture.
The book also doesn't go deep enough into important environmental decisions or treaties. The Stockholm UN Conference is mentioned, but there's not much about the actual Stockholm Declaration. Big agreements like the Montreal Protocol, Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement are barely touched on, which feels like a missed opportunity to really dive into the international efforts that have shaped environmental policy. On a positive note, the Montreal Protocol does get some attention in Chapter 12, which is a good call.
Then there’s the epilogue, which feels a bit too optimistic for my taste. The author focuses more on smaller, feel-good efforts like "K-pop for Earth" and celebrity-driven campaigns, which, while nice, aren't enough to tackle the scale of the problem. Sure, grassroots movements are important, but the real change needs to come from big government policies and corporate accountability. Without that, it feels like we’re just spinning our wheels.
Overall, the book touches on some important points but doesn’t go deep enough into the ecological disasters and global solutions that are truly needed. It's a good read but could have done more to address the bigger picture.
February 25, 2025
The Burning Earth is Sunil Amrith's broad look at world history through an environmental lens. His conclusion: things better change.
Amrith's warning is not the first effort along these lines (Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat, among others over the years, made similar arguments about two decades ago), but The Burning Earth reaches much deeper into history showing how environmental destruction comes not only at the cost of the air we breathe and the water we drink but also in the kind of life we get to live. This history can be depressing because it again puts the lie to the idea that we humans learn from the past. Throughout history again and again humans have traded care of the environment for a "better life" generally defined as "more stuff" for ourselves at the expense of the poorest and those least able to defend themselves. Amrith, a Yale professor, takes a world view in his analysis rather than just focusing on, say, the United States. But, of course, the more prosperous nations/cultures, the move aggressive they have tended to be.
Amrith is not without hope. Cooling down our over-heated earth seems beyond the ability of any one person to change, but he argues that environment awareness has continued to grow especially since the first Earth Day in 1970. Changes are happening, among individuals and groups, and even among nations (although enforcement of protection agreements are made without any enforcement mechanisms).
The scope of The Burning Earth's approach and the depth of Amith's scholarship makes this book a valuable read for anyone concerned about the world we are leaving future generations.
Amrith's warning is not the first effort along these lines (Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat, among others over the years, made similar arguments about two decades ago), but The Burning Earth reaches much deeper into history showing how environmental destruction comes not only at the cost of the air we breathe and the water we drink but also in the kind of life we get to live. This history can be depressing because it again puts the lie to the idea that we humans learn from the past. Throughout history again and again humans have traded care of the environment for a "better life" generally defined as "more stuff" for ourselves at the expense of the poorest and those least able to defend themselves. Amrith, a Yale professor, takes a world view in his analysis rather than just focusing on, say, the United States. But, of course, the more prosperous nations/cultures, the move aggressive they have tended to be.
Amrith is not without hope. Cooling down our over-heated earth seems beyond the ability of any one person to change, but he argues that environment awareness has continued to grow especially since the first Earth Day in 1970. Changes are happening, among individuals and groups, and even among nations (although enforcement of protection agreements are made without any enforcement mechanisms).
The scope of The Burning Earth's approach and the depth of Amith's scholarship makes this book a valuable read for anyone concerned about the world we are leaving future generations.
August 17, 2025
Overall a good book with a great historical overview of colonialism/imperialism and its connection to environmental degradation, social alienation from nature, and exploitation of global marginalized peoples, but Sunil really misses the overarching systemic cause of all the issues being discussed here. He uses the language of critical perspectives on ecological destruction, looking at alienation, imperialism, and exploitation, but never actual does the critical examination of systemic causes of any of these things, constantly tiptoeing around the capitalist drivers using the classic neoliberal cop out of “unregulated capitalism” and ending with far too many calls to individual action over actual systemic shifts from the capitalist system driving each and every one of the symptoms the book is about. Overall really enjoyed this historical look at the drivers of our current ecological crisis, there is great historical examples in here, but the discussion in the book falls short on identifying and addressing the system that underlies all these drivers, would greatly benefit from theory on alienation, exploitation, and the inherent contradictions of capitalism, which would ultimately be actual systems theory that Sunil talks about often here, analyzing ecological and social systems not as separate but as one interlinked earth system.
November 26, 2025
He says this book is a 20 year project and believe it. It sweeps across time and place to show how greed - imperial expansionism and private acquisition backed by our governments - has always damaged, and destroyed, our natural environment - the ground beneath our feet. The destruction and thus the stakes have kicked up since WWI, WWII, and the Industrial age. Our addiction to oil has upped the ante, and private interests backing government policy and lining political pockets has fed into that addiction, at the expense of other forms of energy. Amrith also shows that these are not new issues. He goes all the way back to the desforestation of Europe and Asia. He doesn't limit himself to politics. He goes into widespread epidemics that kill off large populations, like the Plague and malaria, and how environmental destruction contributed to these. He talks about current farming practices that harm soils and have other negative effects, and how not consuming beef could have such a positive effect on land use. In other words, he goes into most of the global issues we worry about currently, but he gives us the whole history of it. I picked up this book because it was among the Dayton Literary Peace Prize recipients this year.
November 17, 2025
This is a remarkable work, and I find myself recommending it to anybody I know who reads nonfiction about either the human experience or the environment. It crosses the lines between history, anthropology, environmental science, and numerous other fields with real grace and focus, and I found Sunil Amrith’s writing both captivating and precise.
In the epilogue, the author mentions that he started as a historian, “seeing environmental concerns as secondary to political rights, economic empowerment, and social justice.” He follows that by saying that he now sees them as inseparable, and that “the pursuit of environmental justice extends and builds on those earlier and still-unfinished struggles for human freedom.”
As historian myself (largely focused on human rights, refugee movements, and genocides) I was blown away at how well this book interweaves centuries of historical human experiences with the environmental concerns that often feel so threatening as to become overwhelming. This connection and reframing actually grounded the climate crisis, and I finished this book surprisingly MORE encouraged and hopeful.
Highly recommend!
In the epilogue, the author mentions that he started as a historian, “seeing environmental concerns as secondary to political rights, economic empowerment, and social justice.” He follows that by saying that he now sees them as inseparable, and that “the pursuit of environmental justice extends and builds on those earlier and still-unfinished struggles for human freedom.”
As historian myself (largely focused on human rights, refugee movements, and genocides) I was blown away at how well this book interweaves centuries of historical human experiences with the environmental concerns that often feel so threatening as to become overwhelming. This connection and reframing actually grounded the climate crisis, and I finished this book surprisingly MORE encouraged and hopeful.
Highly recommend!
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