Heat, a History

Lessons from the Middle East for a Warming Planet
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-0-520-40392-5
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 328 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 151 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 466 g

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2025"In this provocative book, both witty and profoundly serious, Barak provides a human-scale history of the causes and consequences of rising temperatures in the Middle East. He brings the abstractions of carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions to vivid, tangible life"."—Foreign AffairsDespite the flames of record-breaking temperatures licking at our feet, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of environmental overheating. What acquired habits and conveniences allow us to turn a blind eye with an air of detachment? Using examples from the hottest places on earth, Heat, a History shows how scientific methods of accounting for heat and modern forms of acclimatization have desensitized us to climate change.

Ubiquitous air conditioning, shifts in urban planning, and changes in mobility have served as temporary remedies for escaping the heat in hotspots such as the twentieth-century Middle East. However, all of these measures have ultimately fueled not only greenhouse gas emissions but also a collective myopia regarding the impact of rising temperatures. Identifying the scientific, economic, and cultural forces that have numbed our responses, this book charts a way out of short-term thinking and towards meaningful action.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Barak, On

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften, Biologie: Sachbuch, Naturführer
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltschutz, Umwelterhaltung
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Klimawandel, Globale Erwärmung
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents  List of Illustrations  Acknowledgments  Introduction  A Giant Leap from Man  From Global Warming to Local Heating

1. Under the Skin  Ottoman Sweat as Heaven on Earth  No Sweat

2. Heat Islands  The Building Blocks of a Coastal Thermal Sink  Beached: Libidinal Coastmopolitanism

3. Into the Bubble  Gone with the Wind  Arctic Comfort in Arabia
4. Internal Combustions  From Devout Closeness to Ungodly Congestion  From Licit Contact to Sexual Harassment 1  The Motorscape of Zahma  Postscript: Burning Bridges  The Bad COP  Bubbles Big and Small, Expanding Like Foam  Notes  Bibliography  Index

Über Autor(innen)

On Barak is a social and cultural historian of science and technology and Professor of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. He is author of four previous books, including Powering Empire: How Coal Made the Middle East and Sparked Global Carbonization.