Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2)

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The second installment in a projected four-volume biography of LBJ that opened with The Path to Power, Means of Ascent shines a harsh light on the early political years of one of America's most paradoxical presidents. The man who would later ram civil rights legislation through a reluctant Congress, and then be brought down by Vietnam, came out of a political swamp--Caro gives a graphic picture of the Texas democratic political machine at its most corrupt. The climax of the book is LBJ's election to the Senate in 1948, an election he won by 87 dubious votes out of almost a million. That vote arguably changed history. This book won the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.

Book Description

Robert A. Caro's life of Lyndon Johnson, which began with the greatly acclaimed The Path to Power, also winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, continues -- one of the richest, most intensive and most revealing examinations ever undertaken of an American President. In Means of Ascent the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer/historian, chronicler also of Robert Moses in The Power Broker, carries Johnson through his service in World War II and the foundation of his long-concealed fortune and the facts behind the myths he created about it. But the explosive heart of the book is Caro's revelation of the true story of the fiercely contested 1948 senatorial election, for forty years shrouded in rumor, which Johnson had to win or face certain political death, and which he did win -- by "the 87 votes that changed history." Caro makes us witness to a momentous turning point in American politics: the tragic last stand of the old politics versus the new -- the politics of issue versus the politics of image, mass manipulation, money and electronic dazzle.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Journalistic History at its Best -- but Most Heartless.......2007-09-08

The second in Caro's amazingly detailed, trenchant, fascinating, truthful, insightful and heartless multi-volume portrait of Johnson. What did anyone -- even Lyndon Johnson -- ever do to deserve a biographer like this? Not that I fault Caro: His tenacious and scrupulously accurate determination that the truth be told is journalistic history at its highest level of professionalism. But under, or alongside, the chicanery, the narcissism, the shameless expediency of his subject's persona there also was a charisma, a thoroughly human drive to assert himself and make an imprint on an indifferent universe that also is breathtaking, and the sheer wonder and humanity of Johnson is not given enough due. But enough of the cavil, because this book is a supreme accomplishment, of research, writing and psychological insight. It is fascinating to see Johnson's vast inflation of his military "career," and the way he continued to lie about it to people who knew he was lying, and who he knew knew he was lying. And the account of the stealing of the 1948 Senate race is so gripping, so suspenseful even though one knows the outcome before the book is opened, that it defies the effort to put the book down. I had read the book in fits and starts until about page 210, then picked it up at about 9:30 p.m., and could not stop until I finished, at 2:15 a.m. This book will be richly rewarding for anyone interested in the 1940s, and/or in contemporary American politics.

Taught me to loathe Lyndon, love Lady Bird, and admire Coke.......2007-07-11

I recently read the second volume of Robert A. Caro's magisterial biography of LBJ, entitled MEANS OF ASCENT, and from that book I learned to loathe one man, Lyndon Johnson, whose signal accomplishments in civil rights and social justice are difficult to reconcile with his profound character flaws; to admire another, Coke Stephenson, who, for all the baggage of racism and reactionary ideology that came along with his frontier conservatism was, by all accounts, an outstanding, even heroic human being; and to hold in the very warmest regard one woman, Lady Bird Johnson, who, in spite of her paralyzing shyness and the outrageous abuse heaped upon her by her husband, was not only steadfast in her love and loyalty, but also took infinite pains to remake herself, agonizingly, into a successful businesswoman, canny politician, eloquent speaker, pioneering conservationist, important philanthropist, and accomplished public figure of the very first rank.

Amazing look at politics in Texas.......2007-05-12

This book begins where Path to Power left off. It does give a quick recap so you can pick up here if you did not want to read the first one (although I recommend reading it as it is spectacular). The lies of Johnson's military service are almost too much to believe. His desire to retain elected office and achieve his goals remain unmatched as ever before. This book yet again shows how Johnson would lie and cheat his way to power. The Texas politics are truly among the most disturbing that you can see anywhere. The corruption is rampant and with an election where Johnson wins by only 87 votes the corruption was rampant. The race for the senate seat against governor Coke Stevenson who was one of the more principled Texas politicians is famous in Texas history. This book is wonderful at recounting that event as well as giving further insight into Johnson. Caro's writing is superb and the desire to find out what happens next is unmatched in other biographies. This is a must read for anyone interested in political history, biographies, or politics.

Reveals LBJ the scoundrel.......2007-05-04

This biography of LBJ, the second in a series written by Caro, covers briefly the humiliating early years in Johnson's life when his father was reduced to poverty, his college years, his time as a young congressman, and spotlights the infamous 1948 Senate race. The book also contrasts the life of Johnson's opponent in the 1948 Senate race, the venerated former Governor of Texas, Coke Stevenson.

Caro tries to show Johnson's naked political ambition throughout the book. Johnson could not stand just being one of a crowd, he had to lead the crowd and dominate his followers. He also shows how, once LBJ obtained power in the Congress, Johnson used it to his own benefit and the benefit of his supporters. Principal among these was the powerful Texas lawyer Ed Clark and the Texas construction and oil pipeline company, now a subsidiary of Halliburton, Brown & Root. Johnson did not use the office to benefit the people of Texas or for reasons one might commonly associate with Congressmen; in nearly twelve years as in the Congress, he introduced seven bills total. Two were passed and these affected his district only. In his first eleven years he delivered a mere ten speeches to the House of Representatives.

When it became clear to Johnson he was going to lose a political race, he resorted to other than honest means to win. Caro tells how the 1948 Senate race was not an anomaly, rather Johnson had been stuffing ballot boxes his entire political life. It did not matter how small the race or how paltry the office. Johnson stuffed ballots even to win Student Council elections at college and the "Little Congress" elections, a social club of political aides. What was important was winning at any cost and furthering his political ambition.

Also included in the biography is how Johnson came to own KTBC, a radio station in Austin, how the station was used by businessman and others to buy favors Johnson after they bought advertising slots on the station, and how awfully he treated the employees of the station. When confronted in public about these matters, Johnson would always claim that the station was owned by his wife and that he had no part in the ownership and operation of it. Caro shows that like most other things that Johnson claimed, this was a lie.

I highly enjoyed reading this book. The lust for power Caro describes gives credit to allegations (by other authors) that Johnson was involved in the death of JFK.

The Case Of The Missing Ballot Box.......2007-02-05

While the first volume of Robert A. Caro's biography on Lyndon Johnson read like epic fiction, his follow-up second volume, 1990's "Means Of Ascent," reminds me more of a crime novel, a closed-door mystery where a single missing ballot box presents us with a Maguffin for the proceedings.

You know about "The 39 Steps." Well, here's "The 87 Votes."

That was the final margin of LBJ's victory over Coke Stevenson in Texas's 1948 Senate Democratic primary, which as described by Caro here was one of the shadiest non-expressions of democratic will in the history of America's wildest, woolliest state. By buying off critical precincts, Johnson's handpicked goons, many of them armed, reported absurdly slanted returns, in some areas giving Johnson more than 100 votes for every one for Stevenson's.

Caro writes: "The unwritten laws, the ethics, the morals of Texas politics were so loose and elastic that it was difficult to break them. But Lyndon Johnson had broken them."

Caro backs this up with impressive research, including interviews with key Johnson aides and a former pistolero named Salas proud of how he helped push Johnson over the top by casting 200 votes for him on behalf of absent, sometimes dead voters. As the story develops, Stevenson figures out what has been done to him and sets about to make things right, whereupon the fight of Johnson's career shifts to a courtroom, where a row of mysterious locked barrels are lined up before the court, each possibly containing the missing ballot box with its provably fraudulent votes. Can the box be found before the whole proceeding is rendered moot by a court order from Washington?

All this is very readable stuff, if a half-step below the impossibly high standard set with "Path To Power." It's not so much the narrower focus of "Means Of Ascent" (just the years 1941-48, fallow ones for LBJ except for this election), but the reduced scope from PTP one is aware of, especially at the start when Caro recounts much of the first book in a pedantic "what-we-have-learned-so-far" way. Caro's beef with Johnson is clear and valid, but it becomes more overbearing in this volume, especially as he keeps going to Coke Stevenson as an contrasting exemplar of political virtue. Others point to Coke being a segregationist as making this approach suspect; I just found him dull, and perhaps too proud for public office. A point Caro doesn't make but could is that for all his faults, LBJ wanted the job more.

I also think there is some wiggle room to account for Johnson's behavior Caro refuses to grant. Simply put, Caro uses a lot of second-hand testimony from foggy thinkers to make his darkest points, like quoting Salas at length. He didn't seem to stretch such testimony as far in "Path To Power," and as Robert A. Divine notes in his own Johnson bio, the end result seems to make Caro "a prisoner of people's memory" more than it ought.

But "Means To Ascent" is well-sourced, richly-detailed, and contains one of the most dazzling narratives this side of Hitchcock. It's no doubt not Caro's best LBJ book, but a singular and worthy piece of the larger puzzle Caro is still putting together.

The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent

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The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent
Robert A. Caro
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent
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Anchors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather and the Evening News/Means of Ascent/The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey/Feeding Frenzy (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 2: 1991)

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Anchors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather and the Evening News/Means of Ascent/The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey/Feeding Frenzy (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 2: 1991)
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Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
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Product Description

Condensed books selected by the Editors of Reader's Digest. Hardcover with dust jacket.

Anchors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather & the Evening News/Means of Ascent/The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey/Feeding Frenzy (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 12: 1991)

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Anchors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather & the Evening News/Means of Ascent/The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey/Feeding Frenzy (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 12: 1991)
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Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
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Product Description

FOUR STORIES ON ONE BOOK: 1. ANCHORS--ROBERT GOLDBERG AND GERALD JAY GOLDBERG 2. MEANS OF ASCENT--ROBERT A. CARO 3. THE DARK ROMANCE OF DIAN FOSSEY--HAROLD T. P. HAYES 4. FEEDING FRENZY--WILLIAM STERNBERG AND MATTHEW C. HARRISON, JR.

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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MQAC6O

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The ascent of man by means of natural selection.

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The ascent of man by means of natural selection.
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Manufacturer: Longmans, Green
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The Asian Century: The Economic Ascent of the Pacific Rim and What It Means for the West

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The Asian Century: The Economic Ascent of the Pacific Rim and What It Means for the West
Julian Weiss
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0816016879

Book Description

An updated and revised version of this classic compendium of the military history of the world.

Customer Reviews:

The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History.......2007-01-21

I can't really add much more than has already been written, but I agree wil the reviewers who call this work comprehensive or complete. This book covers so much it thoroughly deserves all the positive comments already said about it. This is another gem that is out of print, and I wish I had bought it when it was available. This book should be revised and re-released at some point, as it has too much to offer to let it become an obscure library reference section book. Wars will never end, so there will always be a reason and a need to revise it and put it on the market once again.

Pages worn from use.......2004-06-05

This book makes superb companion reading to other history, or stands alone as a fun browser.

A couple of criticisms:

I have found a couple of instances in which the authors accepted their source material's claims uncritically and without reference. Numbers used by Herodotus, for example, are passed on in the book in a couple of places whereas these numbers are highly disputed among military historians and certainly are wrong. To Dupuy and Dupuy's great credit, they often give fantastic context and this is a very minor problem.

The bibliography cites works in English, German and Spanish. I presume them to read original works in French as well. Consequently, their treatment of East Asian military history is much weaker than their treatment of European military history. Nonetheless, I have not found another encyclopedia on East Asian military history that rivals this work.

A Treasure.......2002-07-29

I have owned this book, Harper Encyclopedia of Military History, for a number of years and have yet to come across a text of military history exceeding the former in sheer volume of information. Harper is essentially 1500 plus pages of a timeline covering events from 3100 BC to the beginning of the 1990s. Interspersing this timeline are articles analyzing military developments and personalities within each era of coverage. What makes Harper so comprehensive is its detailed inclusion of events beyond Europe. Regions of the world that would customarily recieve scant to no attention in more Eurocentric works dealing with this topic are focused upon with a dramatic vigor that sheds light on leaders and wars unfamiliar to the West.(Given the prevalent ignorance of history, Western leaders and wars may be just as unfamiliar to a disconcertingly large segment of the Western world). This book is a great reference for anyone desiring a concise, year by year account of military operations in any time period. Harper is a tremendous, tireless resource for scholars and military history aficionados in general.

An excellent and very complete research book.......2002-03-17

You sometimes find yourself reading a book on History or even Historical Fiction. They mention a battle or a General. Where do you find more about it?

This is an excellent and very complete research book.

The BIG Picture.......2001-10-06

Any understanding of history, especially anthropological history (i.e. the history of peoples) must have at its core a grasp of organized, mass violence. For it was the victors of those sometimes periodic, other times incessant, spasms of violence who told the story of the battles and who preserved the culture which spawned the combatants. The genesis, history, and culture of the Carthagenian Empire is obscure because the emergent Roman Empire completely immolated Carthage hundreds of years before the advent of Christ during the Punic Wars. The authors of this comprehensive, thoroughly engrossing chronology detail the story of the Punic Wars - and each and every other armed conflict from the dawn of history through to the 1990's. This reviewer is unaware of any other single-volume work which comes even close to this achievement.

The Encyclopedia of Military History is organized by chapters which cover each major era of military development. Each chapter contains an introductory section which outlines the broad development of weapons, military doctrine, and tactics during these eras. Particular emphasis is placed on the Greek and Roman systems and thereafter the military technologies and doctrines of the emergent european nation states and their colonies. After each chapter's broad introduction, the authors delve with intricate detail into the military campaigns of each era using a dual column per page format which packs dense amounts of information onto each page. Engrossing, if concise, histories of each war, campaign, and battle are organized chronologically and geographically (i.e. those fought in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Americas, the Far East, Near East, Africa, etc.).

It is difficult to fault this book. To pack any more detail would reqire an unyieldy, multivolume work. Certain multicultural types might complain about flinty coverage of their favorite cultures (e.g. warring clans in Africa or the Far East) but the mere fact that this Encyclopedia covers such relatively minor conflicts at all is somewhat suprising.

Anyone with any interest in history will be absolutely enthralled with the combination of broad scholarship and detailed retelling of the world's military history found here.

Book Description

The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain sorts of `collective rights' for minority cultures are consistent with liberal democratic principles, and that standard liberal objections to recognizing such rights on grounds of individual freedom, social justice, and national unity, can be answered. However, Professor Kymlicka emphasises that no single formula can be applied to all groups and that the needs and aspirations of immigrants are very different from those of indigenous peoples and national minorities. The book discusses issues such as language rights, group representation, religious education, federalism, and secession - issues which are central to understanding multicultural politics, but which have been surprisingly neglected in contemporary liberal theory.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2006-12-13

Kymlicka's Multiculturalism well explains about the importance of cultural pluralism and how to equally treat and respect each distinctive group in the multi nation state such as USA and Canada. This book is not so entertaining, rather it's more like scholastic text book, however the book was very knowledgeable and helpful to understand and accept the reality of multiculturalism in the United States. There's no doubt that Kymlicka's argument and examples to support his thesis were impressively logical and reasonable. Because each typical group is very clearly categorized and precisely explained, it's not so difficult to understand. Recommended for people who're interested in Philosophy, Law, Politics, Sociology etc.

Mixed-bag.......2004-12-26

This book is a mixed bag- there are interesting and important arguments for a brand of multi-cultural citizenship, and for the idea that national minorities are morally distinct from immigrant groups. However, there are also serious problems. The historical analysis is often at least somewhat off- it's very odd to make a big deal that 19th centruy liberals supported nationalism w/o noting, at all, that this was largely due to their insidious racism and support for colonialism, even by liberals like Mill. That this isn't even mentioned or considered is a shocking omission. That's just one of many examples. Often the book seems to vastly over-generalize from the Canadian experience, w/o making this clear or noting what's being done. Much of the discussion of immigrant groups doesn't really fit that well w/ the facts, and lacks the sympathetic insight that Kymlicka displays towards national minorities. Several of the main thesies are challanged by the experience of the EU, and no mention of that is made at all. (Some of that is surely due to the book being nearly 10 years old, but even at that time some of the claims about what people want, what's possible, etc. were already being challanged by developments in the EU.) SO, the book should be read and considered, but the arguments are too full of gaps to be anywhere close to convincing now.

A strong argument for multiculturalism.......2004-03-10

Kymlicka's arguement is both forceful and articulate, making Multicultural Citizenship a valuable work for both specialists and those simply currious about political thought and multiculturalism. While by no means perfect, this book does an admirable and subtle job of reconciling individual and group rights within the context of the liberal-democratic state.

Individual and collective rights.......2002-03-13

Kymlicka covers the issues related to each of individual and collective rights, as well as comparing them to each other. He provides a really interesting outlook on the ways in which the quest for rights for any group of people can result in conflict. I suppose I like this book so well because it follows my own philosophical view on people claiming rights in general, that at some point if we were to claim all rights we believe we're entitled to, we would eventually come into conflict with someone else's human rights. As such, we must necessarily make sacrifices of some rights in order to live peaceably among all people. Kymlicka doesn't really say that as I do, but much of what he discusses seems to be related to it.

important work.......2000-04-12

Along with Tamir's "Liberal Nationalism" and Miller's "On Nationality", "Multicultural Citizenship" is fast becoming a classic work on liberal nationalism. Of the 3, Kymlicka's may be the most clearly laid out. It uses case material, particularly that of aboriginals in Canada, very effectively. A more refined version of some of the arguments presented in "Liberalism, Community, Culture". Highly recommended.

Ciudadania Multicultural / Multicultural Citizenship: Una teoria liberal de los derechos de las minorias/ A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Estado Y Sociedad/ State and Society)

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Ciudadania Multicultural / Multicultural Citizenship: Una teoria liberal de los derechos de las minorias/ A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Estado Y Sociedad/ State and Society)
Will Kymlicka
Manufacturer: Ediciones Paidos Iberica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. (book reviews): An article from: Yale Law Journal

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Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. (book reviews): An article from: Yale Law Journal

Manufacturer: Yale University, School of Law
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Yale Law Journal, published by Yale University, School of Law on October 1, 1997. The length of the article is 1626 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. (book reviews)
Publication: Yale Law Journal (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1997
Publisher: Yale University, School of Law
Volume: 107 Issue: n1 Page: 227-259

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation--nearly three billion years ago--to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas.
Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. Frozen Earth also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.

Customer Reviews:

covering the science and scientists of ice ages.......2007-04-25

This book describes the history of scientific research into ice ages, and explains the science itself. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic regarding ice ages, and covers the big names who worked in this field. The book makes good connections between the science of ice ages and other topics in science, such as human evolution, global climate change, plate tectonics, and extinction of species. The book gives good descriptions of the science involved without getting bogged down in it, thereby allowing the reader to go through the book quite easily. The overall science level is appropriate for anyone who has gone to college, and the book is quite interesting to read.

a splendid piece of science writing.......2007-03-28

Simply put, Doug Macdougall's FROZEN EARTH is science writing at its best. Compressed within this book's crystalline prose is a plethora of remarkable insights and revelations which should shatter any notions that our planet is a peaceful and stable haven of life.

The author explains how ice cores taken from remote regions have unlocked several of the mysteries of past climatic epochs. Factors such as the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, continental drift, greenhouse gases, mountain building and other phenomena are also examined for their role in altering earth's climate.

Some history is thrown in too. Geniuses like Louis Agassiz, Milutin Milankovitch, Harlan Bretz, and the relatively unheralded James Croll receive significant attention for their monumental contributions to the study of ice ages.

The FROZEN EARTH includes an interesting discussion about the impact of solar activity and cosmic rays on cloud formation and climate. Macdougall doesn't raise the issue, but this theory has gained prominence lately as an alternative explanation to CO2 levels for changes in the earth's weather (see Nigel Calder's THE CHILLING STARS: THE NEW THEORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE).

In the final chapter the author speculates on the effect of rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Macdougall clearly believes that it's something to be concerned about. He points out, though, that we're still in the grip of an ice age. The record of the last million years or so indicates that warm interglacial periods like the one we're experiencing typically last 10 to 20 thousand years before the ice returns. He wonders if this time it'll be different. Maybe our abundant CO2 emissions will delay the advance of the glaciers, or even set the earth on a new, warmer course free from the peril of recurring ice ages.

The FROZEN EARTH closes with the tacit admission that our present state of knowledge is too limited to provide a clear picture of the earth's future climate. There is much yet to learn.

like trying to stop an avalanche.......2007-02-24

Hey, I've been reading this kind of material for forty years....ice ages, Milankovitch cycles, loess deposits you name it. This book is a nice synopsis. The truth is in the ice cores and seafloor sediment cores....the truth is that an ice is something that nearly destroyed the human race while it changed it. The truth is that another will happen , in geological terms, VERY soon. The truth is that human caused greenhouse gases may have forestalled the onset of the next ice age already.....

This is a very good book and I recommend it for anyone with an open mind about global climate and the so called immenent dangers of global warming. However, being cynical, I'd say that people with minds open to this subject must account for less than one percent of the populace......so great is the global warming juggernaut.

Don't read the book if you want to actually KNOW something about ice ages that might shake your confidence in all the hype. Read it if you want to learn. But then, after you've learned, you'll have to keep your mouth shut on the subject since the present orthodoxy ( political correctness ) will brand you as either a fool or enemy of the planet or both if you so much as suggest that there may be more to the story than slick media propaganda teach.....

Yah, I know the sea level is going to rise and that the floods will be terrrible. How does a 400 foot drop in sea level for oh, about 100,000 years, sound as an alternative? Hummmmmm? Just how much has the sea level actually risen BTW? It's going to be time to see some real movement in that direction soon if the hypothesis is true that man caused CO2 is raising the global temp etc. My money is on the onset of a new ice age within several thousand years......but then, I don't have to compete for tenure or research grants as a climate 'scientist'.

A real scientist writes about climate changes on Earth.......2006-12-24

This is one of the best books i've read in a long time, and I read over 100 books each year. Macdougall covers a lot of territory in a rather small book, which could have been twice as long and probably been even more interesting.
Macdougall puts the long history of Earth's climate changes over billions of years into perspective. The earth had been nearly completely frozen, and nearly completely ice free several times in its history. Some of the more fascinating statistics deal with how glaciers have advanced and retreated over millions of years, how human evolution probably took a dramatic departure from our fellow apes due to glaciations, how the sea level has risen 400 feet since the last major glaciations just a few thousand years ago allowing mankind to walk the land bridges between Siberia and Alaska, and even from modern-day France to modern-day England.
This book has none of the hysterical "chicken-little" rantings of those who worry about global warming, and Macdougall shows us that there are far more plausible theories about climate change than the effect of CO2 and fossil fuel use, especially since the earth has had many more serious changes than even the un-educated Gores of the world have been predicting.
A great piece of writing by a real scientist.

Some perspective on the global climate.......2006-04-03

Doug Macdougall's "Frozen Earth" is clear, easy-to-read popular science for those interested in changes in global climate but without the scientific background to understand the often emotionally-charged discussion in the public media.

Macdougall's sub-title. "The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages", emphasizes the longer perspective he takes on how and why climate changes. He begins with the fact that we are likely living in an interglacial period of what has been a series of ice ages recurring at more or less regular intervals of several thousand years.

Macdougall gives his story a human aspect by describing how, over the last 300 years, a succession of scientists struggled to make sense of the physical evidence around them indicating that glaciers had once covered much more area than they do at present. The struggle leads to a still growing understanding of ice ages; the details of the story underline just how complex the workings of Planet Earth really are and how incomplete our understanding of these processes still is.

Macdougall loops back later in the book to relate how the ice ages interacted with human evolution; specifically, how the stress of environmental change forced both adaptation by early humans and selection of those best able to survive the changes. Macdougall's discussion of the "Little Ice Age" during the period 1600-1800 nicely links climate change to a human era we can still relate to.

Macdougall is properly cautious in weaving in the possible effects of mankind on climate change and global warming. The burning of carbon-based fuels clearly has some effect on climate, but Macdougall points out that this is only one of many factors that influence climate. At the same time, he makes clear that timing affects the impact of different factors, and lays out the possibility that the human impact may be altering the natural "schedule" of glacial and interglacial periods on earth.

This book is highly recommended to those readers interested in a longer perspective on climate change.

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