The evidence for the Little Ice Age, the most important fluctuation in global climate in historical times, is most dramatically represented by the advance of mountain glaciers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their retreat since about 1850. The effects on the landscape and the daily life of people have been particularly apparent in Norway and the Alps. This major book places an extensive body of material relating to Europe, in the form of documentary evidence of the history of the glaciers, their portrayal in paintings and maps, and measurements made by scientists and others, within a global perspective. It shows that the glacial history of mountain regions all over the world displays a similar pattern of climatic events. Furthermore, fluctuations on a comparable scale have occurred at intervals of a millennium or two throughout the last ten thousand years since the ice caps of North America and northwest Europe melted away. This is the first scholarly work devoted to the Little Ice Age, by an author whose research experience of the subject has been extensive. This book includes large numbers of maps, diagrams and photographs, many not published elsewhere, and very full bibliographies. It is a definitive work on the subject, and an excellent focus for the work of economic and social historians as well as glaciologists, climatologists, geographers, and specialists in mountain environment.

Sturla Þórðarson is one of only a handful of thirteenth-century Icelandic historians to be known by name, and he is certainly one of the most significant. A number of works may be traced directly to his literary-cultural circle, notably Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements), Íslendinga saga (The Saga of Icelanders) and Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar (The Saga of King Hákon). Moreover, it is thought that Sturla was involved in the production of the legal text known as Járnsíða, as well as annals and, possibly, some of the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders). In addition to his role as author and compiler, Sturla Þórðarson was one of the most powerful men in Iceland. In 1262 Sturla visited the court of King Magnús Hákonarson ‘the Law-mender’ in Norway as a court poet. He later became the king’s liegeman, and it was for King Magnús that Sturla wrote the sagas of King Hákon and King Magnús. Sturla served as lawman of all Iceland in the period 1272-77, and then as lawman for the north and west of the country until 1282. He died on 30 July 1284. Contributors are Ann-Marie Long, Ármann Jakobsson, Auður Magnúsdóttir, Gísli Sigurðsson, Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir, Guðrún Nordal, Gunnar Harðarson, Hans Jacob Orning, Helgi Þorláksson, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Lena Rohrbach, Patricia Pires Boulhosa, Philadelphia Ricketts, R.I. Moore, Randi Bjørshol Wærdahl, Roberta Frank, Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, Sverrir Jakobsson, Theodore M. Andersson, Úlfar Bragason and Verena Hoefig.

Since The Little Ice Age was published in 1988, interest in climatic history has grown rapidly and research in the area has flourished. A vast amount of new data has become available from sources such as ice cores, speleothems and tree rings. The picture that we have of past climates and glacier oscillations has extended further into the past and has become more detailed. However, the knowledge of climate change on the decennial and centennial timescale, to which glacier history can contribute, is scarce and is in demand when attempting to predict future change, especially with regard to global warming. New chapters and material have been included throughout the book, which tend to confirm and elaborate on the conclusions of the first edition. The glacial evidence has been presented in the context of the oceanographic and icecap studies that have provided such exciting results. Little Ice Ages is structured in three parts: Part 1 details the evidence for glacier variations in the last thousand years in different parts of the world and the associated climatic fluctuations. Part 2 brings together the evidence for the timing of glacier variations in the course of the Holocene. Part 3 views the Holocene record in a longer time context, especially as it appears in ice cores, and goes on to consider the likely causes of climatic variability on a Little Ice Age timescale and some of its physical, biological and human consequences. It becomes apparent in Little Ice Ages that the glacier record provides a valuable indication of the nature of climatic fluctuations on the land areas of the globe. The record points to periods of cooling which were more numerous and less continuous than was believed to be the case twenty years ago. There appears to be no single explanation for the variability. Volcanism, solar variability and ocean currents have all played their parts and prediction continues to present many problems. Some authorities have thrown doubt on the existence of the Little Ice Age, but Little Ice Age makes the case for a climatic sequence that can usefully be called the Little Ice Age and which had predecessors occurring at intervals of several centuries throughout much of the last 10,000 years.