- Paperback: 520 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (6 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099409844
- ISBN-13: 978-0099409847
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 11.2 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 372,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
British TV viewers may have seen a Channel 4 documentary in July 1999 about a catastrophic climate change in the year 535/536 AD. The documentary was based on this book, written by the archaeology correspondent for the Independent newspaper.
David Keys found evidence for the climate change in dendrochronology--the study of patterns of tree rings to provide accurate historical dates. In 535/536 there was almost no tree growth, showing that the climate went haywire. A few documentary sources also point to a year or more of the sky being darkened and the sun paler than the moon.
The author's purpose in this book is threefold: to identify a possible source for this disaster, in a massive volcanic explosion between Java and Sumatra; to point to the likelihood of something similar happening again, with equivalent consequences; but most of all, to examine the impact of this climatic disaster on history.
This, the main part of the book, is the most fascinating, though also perhaps the weakest part of his argument. Keys traces the fall of the Roman Empire and consequent rise of Byzantium, the birth of Islam and many other major changes as powerful nations and civilisations crumbled or were overrun by invading cultures in Europe, Asia, the Far East and central and South America. Even the retreat of the British and the triumph of the Anglo-Saxons is tracked back to the fall-out from the volcano. Some of his arguments are very persuasive, though there are also many weak links, what ifs and maybes--but at least he is honest in expressing these.
However valid or invalid his main thesis, this book provides a splendid worldwide overview of 6th century history, and is valuable for that in itself. --David V Barrett
Review
"A challenging new perspective. [Catastrophe] is original, provocative and should be taken seriously."
-HUGH KENNEDY
Professor of Early Islamic History,
St. Andrews University, Scotland
"[Catastrophe is] a radical new approach to historical writing. This is truly a book for the end of the millennium."
-DR. MARK HORTON
Leading authority on African archaeology,
British University
-HUGH KENNEDY
Professor of Early Islamic History,
St. Andrews University, Scotland
"[Catastrophe is] a radical new approach to historical writing. This is truly a book for the end of the millennium."
-DR. MARK HORTON
Leading authority on African archaeology,
British University
"From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Sunda Strait marks the spot where, sometime around AD 535, a volcanic eruption blew into the stratosphere the land that used to join Sumatra to Java. The resulting dust veil caused global cooling and drought. This is thought to have changed the course of history for every civilisation on the planet.
For example, the drought in the East African grasslands that followed the volcanic eruption is thought to have unleashed the Black Death. Rodents have a shorter gestation period than their predators so their numbers recovered more quickly once the rains returned. This led to a population explosion and they had to venture further afield in search of food. They took their flea passengers beyond one of the natural reservoirs for plague and into areas where there was no natural immunity. For me the most interesting thing is that the fleas themselves are susceptible to plague. Within a fortnight of infection their guts get blocked. Starving, they suck the blood of anything that moves. This is how the plague was passed to humans. Black rats and their fleas stowed away on ships exporting ivory from the Egyptian port of Pelusium to the Roman ( Byzantine ) Empire and the inevitable happened.
Before AD 535 the Avars dominated the Mongolian Steppe. The lynch-pin of their power was the horse but horses are only able to absorb 25% of the protein they consume, making them ill-equipped to cope with the drought that followed the eruption. The balance of power tipped in favour of the Turks and the Avars left to build a new empire in eastern Europe. They forged an alliance with Persia to terrorise the Byzantine Empire, already weakened by the plague. This crippled both Persia and Rome, allowing Islam to emerge unchallenged. In this way Keys shows that every major civilisation underwent a major transformation, coinciding with the AD 535 eruption. Some, like China and Korea, were forged. Others, like Teotihuacan, collapsed.
After all the painstaking research, some details were overlooked. None of the few maps or diagrams were referred to from the text and they always appeared many pages after they were relevant. While the direct translations of contemporary writers might appeal to die-hard historians, this approach interrupted the flow of the narrative. David Keys could have told this fascinating story twice as well in a book half its length. It had more impact as two episodes of the TV series 'Secrets of the Dead' broadcast on Channel 4 last year.
Mike Follows
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The other two and three star reviews sell Catastrophe a touch short, in my opinion. The book is based upon a fascinating idea -- the way human history can be subverted on such a large scale by something as important in the modern world as climate change. The quantity of evidence is impressive, although I felt a lot more comfortable hearing about how plague broke out of east Africa via trade routes, or how central Asian population pressures forced mass migrations into the twilight of the Roman empire, rather than some of the other areas Keys covers. The chapters on the Americas are a case in point -- I felt there was something more behind the evidence than we were being told. There is so much evidence that some feels as though its being twisted into the pattern rather viciously, and the book sags badly in the middle. That said, as an idea, if you're interested in some of the more random factors that shape history, this is a book that will reward, as well as frustrate, its readers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I bought this book after seeing the two part TV documentary about the mid 500s event and subsequent consequences. I wanted to read it and then pass it on to my son to stimulate his interest in history and how it can be changed by geopghysical events we have no control over. The TV programmes followed the scientific approach of discussing previously unresolved problems in history such as the sudden demise of this or that culture, examining tree ring and other physical evidence of dramatic climatic disruption and considering how the latter could have effect on the former. Its a detective story in which David tracks down the likely candidate and shows just what must have happened, and quotes contempory writings in support of the disaster that happened. The TV programme then proceeded to explore the effects on cultures world wide and ends with the thought provoking fact that statistically such events can and will happen again in the future. All this is in the book of course but I was a little dissapointed that the same, logical format is not used. Far from setting out the problems with history, seeking out the cause and then expanding on the effects, the book starts with long winded discussion of the plague and its effect on the Roman Empire, which a reader who had not seen the TV programmes would have no idea of and its importance . The event and the geophysical evidence are left till late in the book. In my opinion this is a superbly well researched book, a tour de force of investigative method let down by the order in which the various aspects are presented. Surely an author should set out the reasons for writing on this and that subject and why to commence with , then set the work out in a logical manner. I will still send it on to my son, but accompany it with the video of the TV programmes !
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Interesting
Good read and an interesting idea. Perhaps a bit too much of an inverted pyramid i.e. big conclusions drawn from small facts, but well worth investigating. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mark
Catastrophe by David Keys
This book looks at the apparent creation of the bubonic plague in East Africa in the mid 6th Century followed by its traverse through the Middle East to Europe and its subsequent... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Gary Cooper
A brilliant theory, entertaining and well written.
I'm not an expert on history or volcanology but I found the theory in this book compelling, though almost entirely circumstantial. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2009 by J. Richardson
My 100-word book review
In Catastrophe, author David Keys builds a convincing case for sudden climate change having occurred in the early 6th century, an abrupt dip in worldwide temperatures that would... Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2007 by A. J. Cull
Not With a Whimper, But With A Bang!
I enjoyed reading Catastrophe, but I took it with a large grain of salt. Keys makes a solid case that a disaster, possibly a huge volcanic eruption, happened sometime around 535... Read more
Published on 27 May 2002 by William Holmes
Explains a lot of odd facts in history!
I found the book very readable and once started hard to put down.
By dividing the book into geographical sections ie. Europe, the Orient etc. Read more
By dividing the book into geographical sections ie. Europe, the Orient etc. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2001 by L. Britnell
Immensely enjoyable
I enjoyed this book immensely. I found it a plausible, well-researched, provocative, and very well-written. If only all history were presented like this! Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2001
A well researched warning by example
I have to say that I thought this book was a cracker. This is exactly the kind of history I like. In my mind there is no doubt that Krakatoa blew in the mid 500s and caused... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2000 by Jonathan
Far fetched
This is a ludicrous and pointless book. The author attempts to relate 1000 years of world history back to a single climatic catastrophe that occured in the sixth century. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2000
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