| Book Review | Environmental History, 12.1

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| Book Review | Environmental History, 12.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Mediterranean: An Environmental History. By J. Donald Hughes. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Nature and Human Societies Series, edited by Mark R. Stoll. xx + 330 pages. Maps, index, bibliography. Cloth $85.00.
For about forty years, J. Donald Hughes has been working in the field of Mediterranean environmental history. In this book, he summarizes his accumulated knowledge of, and offers mature judgments on, his subject. It will be, for some time to come, the starting point for anyone interested in the long and tumultuous story of the interplay between society and nature in the Mediterranean basin.	1
Hughes uses a chronological structure. The first chapter starts with geographical and environmental descriptions—the arrival of humans and the transition to agriculture—while the second chapter considers the record of major civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome. The next four chapters carry the narrative forward to the present. Within each chapter Hughes addresses what he sees as the essential themes. These vary somewhat, but are remarkably consistent from ancient times to the present. Each chapter deals with agriculture and herding, with forests and deforestation, with extractive and other industries, with technology, with settlement and cities, and with conservation. All but the last chapter also deal with human disease. Other subjects come up from time to time, such as invasive species (prickly pear cactus, for instance), water pollution, or desertification.	. . .

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