The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot; by William Rosen

While there was quite a bit more war than weather in this book, I still enjoyed learning about how climate drastically changed the fortunes of millions of Europeans early in the 14th Century. Rosen explains the phenomena clearly, showing how a shift in ocean currents brought years of cold, rainy weather to an area of the world that was already dealing with a tumultuous political situation. Much of the book focuses on the constant tug of war between England and Scotland over Scotland's place as a sovereign nation (or not), and Rosen especially zeroes in on Edward II, who was particularly bad at both diplomacy and war. War and political turmoil are hardest on the peasantry to begin with, but adding in this climatic shift help push northern Europe over the edge of hardship into famine.

I skimmed much of the "war" sections, partly because I know the history a little already, but mostly because it's just not as interesting to me as Rosen's work on how climate and weather interacted with war to create a perfect storm of deprivation. He makes connections that show just how much nature affects human enterprise, and proves that even slight climatic shifts create vast change that, when working in concert with human events, can cause destruction on a massive scale. It's a warning to us all: nature sustains us, but it can also bring us low in a matter of months.

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