The African Link, first published in 1978, breaks new ground in the studies of pre-19th century racial prejudice by emphasizing the importance of the West African end of the slave trade. For the British, the important African link was the commercial one which brought slave traders into contact with the peoples of West Africa. Far from remaining covert, their experiences were reflected in a vast array of scholarly, educational, popular and polemical writing. The picture of Black Africa that emerges from these writings is scarcely favourable – yet through the hostility of traders and moralising editors appear glimpses of respect and admiration for African humanity, skills and artefacts. The crudest generalisations about Black Africa are revealed as the inventions of credulous medieval geographers and of the late 18th century pro-slavery lobby. The author combines the more matter-of-fact reports of the intervening centuries with analysis of 17th and 18th century social and scientific theories to fill a considerable gap in the history of racial attitudes.

After years of neglect the last decade has witnessed a surge of interest in the medical history of India under colonial rule. This is the first major study of public health in British India. It covers many previously unresearched areas such as European attitudes towards India and its inhabitants, and the way in which these were reflected in medical literature and medical policy; the fate of public health at local level under Indian control; and the effects of quarantine on colonial trade and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The book places medicine within the context of debates about the government of India, and relations between rulers and ruled. In emphasising the active role of the indigenous population, and in its range of material, it differs significantly from most other work conducted in this subject area.

Professor Meek traces the prehistory of the four stages theory, with emphasis on the influence of literature about savage societies.

How the specter of climate has been used to explain history since antiquity Scientists, journalists, and politicians increasingly tell us that human impacts on climate constitute the single greatest threat facing our planet and may even bring about the extinction of our species. Yet behind these anxieties lies an older, much deeper fear about the power that climate exerts over us. The Empire of Climate traces the history of this idea and its pervasive influence over how we interpret world events and make sense of the human condition, from the rise and fall of ancient civilizations to the afflictions of the modern psyche. Taking readers from the time of Hippocrates to the unfolding crisis of global warming today, David Livingstone reveals how climate has been critically implicated in the politics of imperial control and race relations; been used to explain industrial development, market performance, and economic breakdown; and served as a bellwether for national character and cultural collapse. He examines how climate has been put forward as an explanation for warfare and civil conflict, and how it has been identified as a critical factor in bodily disorders and acute psychosis. A panoramic work of scholarship, The Empire of Climate maps the tangled histories of an idea that has haunted our collective imagination for centuries, shedding critical light on the notion that everything from the wealth of nations to the human mind itself is subject to climate’s imperial rule.