Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides, government collapses - the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were unprecedented in both frequency and extent. The effects of what historians call the "General Crisis" extended from England to Japan, from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa. The Americas, too, did not escape the turbulence of the time. In this meticulously researched volume, master historian Geoffrey Parker presents the firsthand testimony of men and women who saw and suffered from the sequence of political, economic, and social crises between 1618 to the late 1680s. Parker also deploys the scientific evidence of climate change during this period. His discoveries revise entirely our understanding of the General Crisis: changes in prevailing weather patterns, especially longer winters and cooler and wetter summers, disrupted growing seasons and destroyed harvests. This in turn brought hunger, malnutrition, and disease; and as material conditions worsened, wars, rebellions, and revolutions rocked the world. The fatal synergy caused by the crisis killed perhaps one-third of the world's human population. Parker's demonstration of the link between climate change, war, and catastrophe 350 years ago stands as an extraordinary historical achievement. And the implications of his study are equally important: are we adequately prepared - or even preparing - for the catastrophes that climate change brings?

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Winner of one of the 2012 Heineken Prize Laureate 'Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences'

Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History at The Ohio State University, and winner of the 2012 Heineken History Prize. Among his many books is The Grand Strategy of Philip II, published by Yale.

'In this vast, superbly researched and utterly engrossing book, Parker shows how climate change pushed the world towards chaos'. Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

Parker’s approach is systematic and painstaking. Scouring and correlating first hand testimony drawn from sources chronicling 17th century affairs from London to Beijing, he pieces together a global tale of worsening weather conditions leading to hardship, administrative chaos, war and
widespread inhumanity. These accounts give us a rich and emotionally intense sense of how it felt to live through chaotic times.” Lisa Jardine, Financial Times

'Global Crisis is a masterpiece, a major work of scholarship by any standard and a credit to Yale University Press, the most impressive of publishers'. Jeremy Black, Standpoint

'Powerful study argues that climate change pushed the world into chaos in the 17 th century'. Sunday Times Ireland