Overview

The past fifteen thousand years-the entire span of human civilization-have witnessed dramatic sea level changes, which began with rapid global warming at the end of the Ice Age, when coastlines were more than seven hundred feet below modern levels. Over the next ten millennia, the oceans climbed in fits and starts. These rapid changes had little effect on those humans who experienced them, partly because there were so few people on earth, and also because those people were able to adjust readily to new coastlines. Global sea levels stabilized about six thousand years ago, except for local adjustments that caused often significant changes to places such as the Nile Delta. The curve of inexorably rising seas flattened out as urban civilizations developed in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and South Asia. The earth's population boomed, quintupling from the time of Christ to the Industrial Revolution. The threat from the oceans increased with our crowding along shores to live, fish, and trade. Since 1860, the world has warmed significantly and the ocean's climb has accelerated. The sea level changes are cumulative and gradual; no one knows when they will end. The Attacking Ocean, from celebrated author Brian Fagan, tells a tale of the rising complexity of the relationship between humans and the sea at their doorsteps, a complexity created not by the oceans, which have changed little. What has changed is us, and the number of us on earth.

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9781608196944

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In The Attacking Ocean, Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power A fascinating history of the sea's impact on human societies over the last 15,000 years as sea level rose since the last Ice Age. Rich in the kind of details that only an archaeologist of Fagan's caliber can bring to the subject, he pays special attention to the increasing vulnerability of societies as they evolved over this same time period. --Bruce Parker, author of The Power of the Sea A fascinating, accessible examination of global climate change and the effect of the world's oceans on human populations over millennia. This thought-provoking work is bound to be popular with readers of Fagan's previous books as well as those interested in anthropology, archaeology, climate change, and glo [A] broad and accessible survey of the interaction between rising sea levels and humanity over the past 9,000 years... Fagan compellingly urges individuals and governments to realize that the rising sea level is an increasingly urgent problem, and the development of sustainable solutions should be at the forefront of public discourse. -- Publishers Weekly Fascinating, if occasionally unnerving...More than just another nervous admonition about climate change, Fagan's account relies on hard data to warn cities and governments worldwide to act now and forestall otherwise inevitable catastrophic flooding. -- Booklist In The Attacking Ocean , Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power [A] broad and accessible survey of the interaction between rising sea levels and humanity over the past 9,000 years... Fagan compellingly urges individuals and governments to realize that the rising sea level is an increasingly urgent problem, and the development of sustainable solutions should be at the forefront of public discourse. -- Publishers Weekly In The Attacking Ocean , Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power

In The Attacking Ocean, Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power A fascinating history of the sea's impact on human societies over the last 15,000 years as sea level rose since the last Ice Age. Rich in the kind of details that only an archaeologist of Fagan's caliber can bring to the subject, he pays special attention to the increasing vulnerability of societies as they evolved over this same time period. --Bruce Parker, author of The Power of the Sea A fascinating, accessible examination of global climate change and the effect of the world's oceans on human populations over millennia. This thought-provoking work is bound to be popular with readers of Fagan's previous books as well as those interested in anthropology, archaeology, climate change, and glo [A] broad and accessible survey of the interaction between rising sea levels and humanity over the past 9,000 years... Fagan compellingly urges individuals and governments to realize that the rising sea level is an increasingly urgent problem, and the development of sustainable solutions should be at the forefront of public discourse. -- Publishers Weekly Fascinating, if occasionally unnerving...More than just another nervous admonition about climate change, Fagan's account relies on hard data to warn cities and governments worldwide to act now and forestall otherwise inevitable catastrophic flooding. -- Booklist In The Attacking Ocean , Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power [A] broad and accessible survey of the interaction between rising sea levels and humanity over the past 9,000 years... Fagan compellingly urges individuals and governments to realize that the rising sea level is an increasingly urgent problem, and the development of sustainable solutions should be at the forefront of public discourse. -- Publishers Weekly In The Attacking Ocean , Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power

In The Attacking Ocean, Brian Fagan has written an urgent and compelling narrative of the impact of rising sea levels on human societies. His brilliant insights, derived from geography, archaeology and history, are the product of a lifetime of scholarly research and deep reflection. This masterly account's extraordinary lessons should impel his readers to consider how they may contribute to meeting the challenges of global climatic changes. --Dr. Andrew M.T. Moore, First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America, former Dean of Liberal Arts, former Dean of Graduate Studies, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Rochester Institute of Technology Global warming, if not the most researched issue of our time, is the most pressing and persistently discussed. The Attacking Ocean stands out as justifiably alarming, with some 200 million people residing at elevations of less than five meters above sea level. As the most accomplished and articulate of archaeologists and science writers addressing the many facets of the climate debate, Brian Fagan again critically and without hyperbole states our anticipated future. --Vernon Scarborough, Charles P. Taft Professor and Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati and author of The Flow of Power A fascinating history of the sea's impact on human societies over the last 15,000 years as sea level rose since the last Ice Age. Rich in the kind of details that only an archaeologist of Fagan's caliber can bring to the subject, he pays special attention to the increasing vulnerability of societies as they evolved over this same time period. --Bruce Parker, author of The Power of the Sea A fascinating, accessible examination of global climate change and the effect of the world's oceans on human populations over millennia. This thought-provoking work is bound to be popular with readers of Fagan's previous books as well as those interested in anthropology, archaeology, climate change, and glo

Author Information

Brian Fagan is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Beyond the Blue Horizon, Elixir, the Los Angeles Times bestseller Cro-Magnon, the New York Times bestseller The Great Warming, and many other books, including Fish on Friday, The Long Summer, and The Little Ice Age. He has decades of experience at sea and is the author of several titles for sailors, including the widely praised The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

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