Synopses & Reviews
Enlightenment inquiries into the weather sought to impose order on a force that had the power to alter human life and social conditions. British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment reveals how a new sense of the national climate emerged in the eighteenth century from the systematic recording of the weather, and how it was deployed in discussions of the health and welfare of the population. Enlightened intellectuals hailed climateand#8217;s role in the development of civilization but acknowledged that human existence depended on natural forces that would never submit to rational control.
Reading the Enlightenment through the ideas, beliefs, and practices concerning the weather, Jan Golinski aims to reshape our understanding of the movement and its legacy for modern environmental thinking. With its combination of cultural history and the history of science, British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment counters the claim that Enlightenment progress set humans against nature, instead revealing that intellectuals of the age drew characteristically modern conclusions about the inextricability of nature and culture.
About the Author
Jan Golinski is professor of history and humanities at the University of New Hampshire and the author of Making Natural Knowledge, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and#8226;and#160;
Preface and#8226;and#160;
and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Introduction: Weather and Enlightenmentand#160;
and#160;
1.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Experiencing the Weather in 1703: Observation and Feelingsand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The and#8220;Exquisite Atmographyand#8221; and Its Author and#8226; The Atmosphere and the Earth and#8226; Clouds in the Head
and#160;
2.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Public Weather and the Culture of Enlightenmentand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Great Storm in Public Debate and#8226; Providence and the British Climate and#8226; Conversation and Weather Lore
and#160;
3.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Recording and Forecastingand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Discipline of the Diary and#8226; The Calendar and the Seasons and#8226; Forecasting by the Heavens
and#160;
4.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Barometers of Enlightenmentand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Genealogy of Weather Instrument and#8226; The Instrument Trade and Consumers and#8226; Interpreting the and#8220;Oraculous Glassesand#8221;
and#160;
5.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Sensibility and Climatic Pathologyand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Hippocratic Revival and#8226; Aerial Sensitivity and Social Change and#8226; The Politics of Atmospheric Reform
and#160;
6.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Climate and Civilizationand#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Enlightenment Debate on Climate and#8226; Medicine and the Colonial Situation and#8226; America: Climate and Destiny
and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Conclusion: The Science of Weatherand#160;
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Notes and#8226;and#160; Bibliography and#8226;and#160; Index and#8226;