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Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-

Century World (review)

Article in Journal of Social History · September 2002

DOI: 10.1353/jsh.2002.0109

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Review
Reviewed Work(s): Something New under the Sun: An Environmental History of the
Twentieth-Century World by J. R. McNeill
Review by: John Soluri
Source: Journal of Social History, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 183-185
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3790574
Accessed: 28-11-2016 01:44 UTC

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REVIEWS 183

Something New
Century Worl
plus 421 pp. $

The central prop

human activity
on an unpreced
McNeill's work
arship on "glob
sources consulte
avoids the breat
sometimes addr
often mind-bog
in twentieth-ce
political ideolog
Something New
with historical
century environ
chapters that de
resources. The c
refer to as "med
fauna). Individua
environmental t
enables the auth
seldom brought
Biosphere: Eat a
between two pi
He notes the de
have contribute
attention to the
intensive techn
In another chap
the North Amer
United States, fo
Brazil the Atlan
pathways?that
on forests?is no
willingness to c
comparisons tha
The last third
change:** popul
nomic structur
task of explaini
that many socia
atic. McNeill is
interwoven, ye
and/or over-gen
throughout the

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184 journal of social history fall 2002
For example, McNeill argues that "food demand drove
doubling of cropland, helped to fuel the Green Revol
world's fishing effort," (p. 275). However, in many par
region with which this reviewer is most familiar), the
during the twentieth century resulted from land spe
land colonization, and expanding export markets for
coffee, and cotton?projects that had little to do with f
Furthermore, the book's global lens does not have a f
tinguish between different kinds of croplands and pr
there is no way to distinguish the environmental impac
in Costa Rica from those associated with Brazilian mo
qualitatively distinct ways of producing coffee for glob
The book's broad scope also severely limits its ability
race, class, ethnicity, gender, and culture shaped the hi
profound environmental transformations. McNeill ack
in population, production, and energy use affected dif
classes and social groups quite unevenly, favoring some
he rarely links his engines of change to specific times,
there is a strong tendency to lump diverse social group
highly contested (and often bloody) struggles to contr
For example, McNeill writes, "we erected new politics,
institutions predicated on continuous growth. Should th
or even taper off, we will face another set of wrenchi
This is simply too sweeping a statement given the past
levels of warfare and social conflict on small and large
particularly those who resisted and/or were marginali
and/or market economies?the past century was no age
need not be an eco-feminist to note that this massive "
masculine project. In short, it is never entirely clear ju
"we" all agreed to play by the rules set down by the h
markets that were central to shaping resource use in th
A final concern centers on the book's time frame. M
change identified by McNeill were already revving up
and nineteenth centuries, and in many ways the twent
as a period when pre-existing processes accelerated. By
century's exceptionalism, McNeill risks losing sight o
nuities and the monumental ecological changes that o
(e.g., the sixteenth century "Columbian Exchange") th
term, transcontinental processes central to the emerge
economy. The twentieth century focus also places his
miliar location of the "West" and largely denies agenc
industrial centers.
These concerns aside, readers with a general interest i
will find SomethingNew Under the Sun to be very handy r
mation about large-scale trends and key events in recen
The book would also be a valuable addition to reading
environmental studies courses that seldom include wo
importantly, McNeill's approach reminds social and cu

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 REVIEWS 185

work often foc

the importance

Carnegie Mellon University John Soluri

Murder in New York City.By Eric H. Monkkonen (

of California Press, 2001. xi plus 238 pp. $29.95).

Eric Monkkonen's study of murder in New York City o

nificantly expands and historicizes what we know abou
society. Examining census data, court records, newspaper
tor and police reports, coroner's records, and FBI data am
Monkkonen challenges the "common wisdom" we ho
people murder in the United States. While uncovering
York's past, the author keeps the present-day controversi
violence, police violence and punishment versus preven
book will be of interest to urban historians and quantit
as students and scholars of criminology and policy studi
Monkonnen uses New York City because of its size, its lon
sistent government. While the data are specific to one r
city, larger scale assessments of murderous behavior in
are made here. His evaluations of murder in New York C
include extensive discussion of how gender, age, ethnicit
how and why men and women, but particularly men, m
murdered themselves. Monkkonen also puts New York,
can, murders in the context of those in Europe, particul
to important differences in the functioning of the sta
acceptance of violent behavior among the citizenry.
The first chapter provides an overview of murder in New
tion as a whole and points out how major events such as
gration relate to murder rates. Using graphs, Monkonne
urban violence, poverty, overcrowding and rioting. Monk
crowding, poverty and the anonymity of big cities in an
actually timeless causes for urban murder, thus preparing t
ical analysis ofNew York's murderers and their victims in
The second chapter, titled "Lethal Weapons" discusses t
weapons available over the two centuries including kniv
poison, fists and even a well-placed push. Monkonnen ch
of handguns and other concealed weapons including
the infamous Hamilton-Burr duel, the trial of John C. C
Colt, the famous revolver manufacturer and several less
Monkonnen evaluates weapon choice as one with class m
as well as availability was part of weapon choice. For
technological and mass-consumption standards and fads
weapon choice in murder.

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