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Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made

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What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization—in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics—which have transformed the way we live.

Societies that have undergone all four transitions emerge into an era of radically different population dynamics, food surpluses (and waste), abundant energy use, and expanding economic opportunities. Simultaneously, in other parts of the world, hundreds of millions remain largely untouched by these developments.

Through erudite storytelling, Vaclav Smil investigates the fascinating and complex interactions of these transitions. He argues that the moral imperative to share modernity's benefits has become more acute with increasing economic inequality, but addressing this imbalance would make it exceedingly difficult to implement the changes necessary for the long-term preservation of the environment. Thus, managing the fifth transition—environmental changes from natural-resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and global warming—will determine the success or eventual failure of the grand transitions that have made the world we live in today.

Author: Smil Vaclav
Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780190060664
Cover: Hardback
Edition Number: 1
Release Year: 2021

1 EPOCHAL TRANSITIONS
2 POPULATIONS
3 AGRICULTURES AND DIETS
4 ENERGIES
5 ECONOMIES
6 ENVIRONMENT
7 OUTCOMES AND OUTLOOKS

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."

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