Synopses & Reviews
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists to symbolise the perils facing humanity from nuclear weapons. In 2007 it was set at five minutes before the final bell, including for the first time the threat of climate change as well as new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology. This book aims at an analysis of the evolution of our present predicament throughout the Anthropocene Era beginning in 1763, making special reference to the history of the period, the study of the subject and major advances in the natural sciences.
Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson set out the basis for a scientific approach to the pre-industrial stages of historical development in the Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century, when the American and French Revolutions created a vocabulary of modernity. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the industrial revolution unfolded in several stages, nationalism, imperialism and totalitarianism were among the phenomena impeding the update of the Enlightenment programme as well as the fulfilment of the aspirations of 1776 and 1789. Our present predicament demands a rigorous examination of its origins and an assertion of a scientific pandisciplinary approach involving history and other academic specialisations.
Review
'‘Minutes to Midnight’ is a profoundly erudite and original work, formidable in intellectual scope and bristling with insight. It should be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the contemporary world and the role of history.' —Dr Murray Frame, University of Dundee
Review
'At last, a historian with the courage and vision to shake us out of our postmodernist torpor. Dukes’ grand tour – from the tentative experiments of James Watt to nuclear twilight and climate catastrophe – starkly reminds us how quickly we have come to the edge of our own anthropogenic abyss.' —Dr Mark Levene, University of Southampton
Review
'Paul Dukes has written a significant book, arguing that we live in a new geological age, one that was and continues to be shaped in the most profound way by humankind. The world is “ours” in a way that it has never been before, and we can thank Paul Dukes for telling us so, and suggesting what new responsibilities this “ownership” entails.' —Professor Marshall Poe, University of Iowa
Review
'Professor Dukes’ unique capacity for global analysis across centuries has with penetrating brilliance examined the topic of our times, the roots of the ecological crisis. This is engaged history from an outstanding historian; an absolute must read.' —Professor Ian D. Thatcher, University of Ulster
Review
‘The clarity of Dukes’s contentions, coupled with his crystalline writing style, allows readers to grasp the multifaceted points with thought-provoking ease. Indispensable for students of historiography and historical methodology. Highly recommended.’ —M. J. C. Taylor, Paine College, ‘Choice’
Synopsis
The book examines the evolution of the predicament symbolised by the setting of the Doomsday Clock at a few minutes to midnight in the context of the Anthropocene Era from 1763, making special reference to the study of history throughout the period. It seeks to demonstrate the necessity for history as science, while pointing out the inadequacy of some previous approaches. It argues for a pandisciplinary approach to today’s crisis.
About the Author
Born in Wallington, Surrey in 1934, Paul Dukes was taught History at the local grammar school by the late Dr E. N. Williams. He was an Exhibitioner at Peterhouse, Cambridge from 1951 to 1954, graduating with a BA Honours in History. He was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Washington from 1954 to 1956, completing an MA in American History with a thesis on the colonial period. [NP] From 1957 to 1959, he was a National Serviceman in the Intelligence Corps, studying Russian at the Joint Services School for Languages at Crail. From 1959 to 1964 he taught American History for the University of Maryland Overseas while writing a thesis on eighteenth-century Russian History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. In 1964 he was appointed Assistant at the University of Aberdeen, with which he is still associated, from 1999 as Emeritus Professor. He has held visiting appointments at Auckland and Cornell. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1999, and is on the Editorial Board of ‘History Today’. [NP] Paul Dukes has published widely on Russian, European and world history. His works include a range of monographs as well as general histories of Russia and Europe and a series of studies on the relationship between the USA and USSR. He has a son and a daughter and three grandchildren.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. Introduction: Times and Approaches; 2. Enlightenment and Revolutions, 1763-1815; 3. Nations and –Isms, 1815-1871; 4. Natural Selection, 1871-1921; 5. From Relativity to Totalitarianism, 1921-1945; 6. Superpower, 1945-1968; 7. Planet Earth, 1968-1991; 8. Minutes to Midnight, 1991-; Notes