Table of Contents

Foreword by William Cronon

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The Cold War Roots of Global Warming

2. Scientists, Environmentalists, and the Global Atmosphere

3. Making the Global Environment

4. Climate, the Environment, and Scientific Activism

5. The Politics of Dissent

6. The IPCC and the Primacy of Science

7. The Gospel of the Market

Epilogue

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Promotional Information

In Behind the Curve, Joshua Howe explores the history of global warming from its roots as a scientific curiosity to its place at the center of international environmental politics.

About the Author

Joshua P. Howe is assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Reed College.

Reviews

"Joshua Howe's conviction is that we must look beyond science for solutions to questions of human value that science alone can never answer. Only by placing climate change in a larger cultural and historical frame--as Behind the Curve consistently succeeds in doing--will we learn what we must from science without evading the ethical, moral, and political work that is no less essential if we are to find our way through the challenging choices that lie ahead." -From the foreword by William Cronon "Scientists have proven to be right about the causes of a warming planet, but they have failed to stop the warming. Stopping it involves politics and economics more than science, and in this important book Joshua Howe examines how scientists and environmentalists--although both live in intensely political worlds--have managed to get the science right and the politics wrong. This is not the usual story of heroes and villains. Howe tells a more nuanced story-- a tragedy--in which a somewhat naive faith in science rendered scientists politically impotent in a complicated world. Few books published this year will tell a more important story." - Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford "How shall we deal with climate change? That is not just an important topic but, from the standpoint of future generations, arguably the most important of all topics. Thorough and wide-ranging, this book puts the history of global warming policy in its full political and cultural context." - Spencer Weart, author of The Discovery of Global Warming "Behind the Curve is a much-needed book on the history of climate science and politics stretching back to the immediate post-World War II period." - Mark Carey, author of In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers