Christian Ernst

Sie ziehen mit den Truppen Ottos des Großen bei Augsburg in die Entscheidungsschlacht gegen die Ungarn. Wagen sich noch in der Frühzeit der Hanse mit ihren Schiffen über die Ostsee bis ins Baltikum vor und schließen sich dem Zweiten Kreuzzug an, um die ungläubigen Wenden zu bekehren. Sie kämpfen im Dreißigjährigen Krieg gegen die eigenen Landsleute und keine zweihundert Jahre später im Befreiungskrieg gegen die französischen Besatzer unter Napoleon. Sie haben Erfolg. Sie leiden.

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.

Sideways: Chile follows the further adventures of Miles Raymond (played by Paul Giamatti in the critically acclaimed movie Sideways). It’s now a few years later and Miles is a successful author with a blockbuster movie adaptation under his belt, but he’s still searching for something, and depression has him, once again, in its taloned grip. When he is offered a chance to travel to the country of Chile and visit their wine regions for a magazine assignment, Miles—his world turned upside down by bad financial investments and even worse luck with relationships—happily agrees.