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In this 9 min. video Dr. Sam White, discusses the major topics of, impetus for, and methodological approach to his book: A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America. In this work he utilizes both social and natural science data to evaluate the influence of the environmental factors on historical events and narratives.
He chose this particular research topic because, “We often have a … very sanitized story … a story that skips over between Columbus in 1492 and the Pilgrims first winters in 1620 to 1621. This is my chance to bring to bear all the evidence that we now have available to help retell that story in a more realistic way. Because the truth is we don't tell that story to elementary and middle school students for good reason. It's a grim story.”
To watch the full talk see, "America's Colonial Beginnings through the Lens of an Environmental Historian: A Cold Welcome." For more on the history and emergence of the discipline as well its methodological approaches see, “What Is Environmental History?”
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About the Presenters
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Sam White
Professor of Political HistoryDr. Sam White is a professor of political history at the University of Helsinki. Prior to that he was a professor of environmental history at the Ohio State University. His research specializes in historical climate reconstruction and impacts, combining physical and written evidence. He has published various articles on climate, disease, and animals in human history, co-edited the first major textbook in climate history, and written two monographs: The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe...
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Sam White
Professor of Political HistoryDr. Sam White is a professor of political history at the University of Helsinki. Prior to that he was a professor of environmental history at the Ohio State University. His research specializes in historical climate reconstruction and impacts, combining physical and written evidence. He has published various articles on climate, disease, and animals in human history, co-edited the first major textbook in climate history, and written two monographs: The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe's Encounter with North America (Harvard University Press, in review). With Dagomar Degroot, he is the co-founder and director of the Climate History Network.
Presenters
Sam White, University of Helsinki
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