The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

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2. General Introduction: Weather, Climate, and Human History

   • Christian Pfister, Sam White, Franz Mauelshagen

   Pages 1-17

3. Reconstruction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. The Global Climate System

      • Eduardo Zorita, Sebastian Wagner, Fredrik Schenk

      Pages 21-26

   3. Archives of Nature and Archives of Societies

      • Stefan Brönnimann, Christian Pfister, Sam White

      Pages 27-36

   4. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Documentary Evidence—Overview

      • Christian Pfister

      Pages 37-47

   5. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Personal Documentary Sources

      • Christian Pfister, Sam White

      Pages 49-65

   6. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Institutional Sources

      • Christian Pfister

      Pages 67-81

   7. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Early Instrumental Observations

      • Dario Camuffo

      Pages 83-92

   8. Evidence from the Archives of Societies: Historical Sources in Glaciology

      • Samuel U. Nussbaumer, Heinz J. Zumbühl

      Pages 93-97

   9. Analysis and Interpretation: Homogenization of Instrumental Data

      • Ingeborg Auer

      Pages 99-105

   10. Analysis and Interpretation: Calibration-Verification

       • Petr Dobrovolný

       Pages 107-113

   11. Analysis and Interpretation: Temperature and Precipitation Indices

       • Christian Pfister, Chantal Camenisch, Petr Dobrovolný

       Pages 115-129

   12. Analysis and Interpretation: Spatial Climate Field Reconstructions

       • Jürg Luterbacher, Eduardo Zorita

       Pages 131-139

   13. Analysis and Interpretation: Modeling of Past Climates

       • Eduardo Zorita, Sebastian Wagner

       Pages 141-148

   14. The Denial of Global Warming

       • Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, David J. Karoly, Joelle Gergis, Urs Neu, Christian Pfister

       Pages 149-171

4. Historical Climatology: Periods and Regions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 173-173

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   2. The Holocene

      • John L. Brooke

      Pages 175-182

   3. Mediterranean Antiquity

      • Peregrine Horden

      Pages 183-188

   4. China: 2000 Years of Climate Reconstruction from Historical Documents

      • Quansheng Ge, Zhixin Hao, Jingyun Zheng, Yang Liu

      Pages 189-201

This handbook offers the first comprehensive, state-of-the-field guide to past weather and climate and their role in human societies. Bringing together dozens of international specialists from the sciences and humanities, this volume describes the methods, sources, and major findings of historical climate reconstruction and impact research.  Its chapters take the reader through each key source of past climate and weather information and each technique of analysis; through each historical period and region of the world; through the major topics of climate and history and core case studies; and finally through the history of climate ideas and science. Using clear, non-technical language, The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History serves as a textbook for students, a reference guide for specialists and an introduction to climate history for scholars and interested readers.

• climate
• history
• historical Climatology reconstruction
• Glaciers
• Global Climate system
• Holocene
• Homogenization of instrumental data
• Temperature indices
• precipitation indices
• Global Warming Denial
• Year without a summer
• 1816
• Meteorology
• climate change impacts
• climate change

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2019

“They provide the most comprehensive treatment to date of historical climate and society interactions and should serve as an excellent source for a range of readers interested in this emerging topic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.” (J. Schoof, Choice, Vol. 56 (7), March, 2019)

• Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

  Sam White

• Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

  Christian Pfister

• Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

  Franz Mauelshagen

Sam White is Associate Professor of Environmental History at the Ohio State University, USA and author of the award-winning book The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (2011), among other publications. He is also co-founder and director of the Climate History Network.


Christian Pfister is Professor Emeritus and Senior Researcher at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He has published 11 books and more than 200 articles. He is co-founder of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH).


Franz Mauelshagen is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. He has published several books, including the award-winning Wunderkammer auf Papier (A Cabinet of Curiosities on Paper, 2011), and more than 50 articles on the history of science, disasters, climate, and the Anthropocene. 

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