The Great Warming

Brian Fagan (Bloomsbury // $29.95)

In The Great Warming, author Brian Fagan travels the globe to resurrect the circumstances of the Medieval Warm Period, which occurred from A.D. 800 to 1300. In tree rings, ice cores, coral reefs, computer weather models and satellite photographs, he finds evidence of an oft-ignored side effect of rising temperatures: drought. While the Medieval Warm Period saw the mercury rise only a couple of degrees, the climactic shift benefited some and blighted others. A more temperate climate in England, for example, allowed vineyards to flourish, but warming in the Americas brought drought that nearly wiped out the Maya civilization. History could repeat itself, says Fagan, but he demonstrates that adaptation is possible: An ancient civilization on the coast of Peru combated drought with sophisticated irrigation, a diversified diet, and the careful management of soil and water.

—Jennifer Winger  

Nature's Beloved Son

Bonnie J. Gisel (Heyday Books // $45.00)

Nature’s Beloved Son explores a little-known fact about one of the world’s best-known environmentalists: John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, was an avid botanist. The expeditions of the peripatetic Muir (who once walked from Louisville, Kentucky, to the Gulf of Mexico) informed his career as a writer, but his early aptitude for botany and abiding love for plants are what inspired him to become an environmental advocate. Author and historian Bonnie J. Gisel traces Muir’s life through the plants he collected, and landscape photographer Stephen J. Joseph contributes exquisite prints of Muir’s botanical specimens. With its linen-wrapped cover and delicate prints of sand myrtle and Sierra primrose, Nature’s Beloved Son is an elegant showcase of Muir’s passion for plants and a tribute to small beauty. 

—J. W.

Wildlands Philanthropy

Tom Butler (Earth Aware Editions // $65.00)

Wildlands Philanthropy takes an intimate look at 40 natural areas that have gained protection during the past 100 years thanks to private conservation funding and initiative. Several of the stories feature individuals who played a significant role in the development of The Nature Conservancy. Richard Pough, co-founder of the organization and its first president, worked to promote raptor conservation in what would become Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, and Katharine Ordway worked through the Conservancy to create the first network of prairie preserves in the country. But while land conservation is an American tradition, it is an ethic that has been successfully transplanted beyond U.S. borders. Author Tom Butler cites former Nature Conservancy board members Henry and Wendy Paulson as examples of philanthropists who, along with Goldman Sachs and Wildlife Conservation Society, helped created protected areas in far-flung places like Tierra del Fuego, Chile. With 170 stunning photographs by Antonio Vizcaino, Wildlands Philanthropy is a work of art and an homage to those who love the Earth enough to protect it. 

—J. W.

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Images: Photo © Mark Godfrey (Books)