“Richards steers a calm course between these extremes [of the catastrophic and the celebratory view of environmental history], but it is as clear from his choice of examples as from his language that he inclines more to the celebratory than the apocalyptic view. . . . Richards advances beyond a purely Eurocentric approach to the dynamics of change and presents the frontier as an evolving, interactive process influenced by both human and non-human factors. That is no mean achievement.”
Times Literary Supplement
“Richards has an economical way of surveying vast amounts of evidence which makes it an easy and rewarding read.”
- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto,, History Today
<p>“This is a major work of world and environmental history that experts and nonexperts will be consulting and quoting for years to come.”</p>
American Historical Review
<p>“This is more than a good textbook for a world history course. . . . It is a work that should be required reading for all early modernists, because it makes the strongest case to date for the importance of environmental history to the broader field.”</p>
Journal of Modern History
“An excellent addition to the literature of world environmental history and a valuable aid to teaching.”
International History Review
<p>“Richards’s book is an admirable success and an intellectual adventure. Completely dependable in its scholarship, it undoubtedly will be one of the few that environmental historians place on a shelf within reach for ready consultation. . . . All in all, this work is a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.”</p>
Environmental History
"A landmark book. Richards moves deftly among various ways of thinking about the early modern environment—national case studies, studies of particular industries, and reflections on increasing global interconnections—so that we get not only a wealth of important data and stories, but multiple perspectives on the topic as a whole. Both the breadth and the depth of the project are inspiring: people will learn new things about environmental change, even in their regions of specialization. But the biggest payoff is in the way Richards weaves environmental change into more familiar early modern stories of global trade, colonialism, technological change, and, above all, state formation. None of these topics will ever look quite the same again."—Kenneth Pomeranz, author of The Great Divergence: Europe, China, and the Making of the Modern World Economy