The Heat and the Fury
On the Frontlines of Climate Violence
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Footnote Press Ltd
Publishing:25th Sep '25
£10.99
This title is due to be published on 25th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Drawing on a decade of original on-the-ground reporting, Schwartstein tells the story of the largely overlooked ways in which climate stress is fuelling everything from urban crime to old school piracy to warfare.
'A landmark work on perhaps the essential question of our time' - David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth
In this ground-breaking book, environmental journalist, Peter Schwartzstein, takes the reader on the first on-the-ground exploration of climate change's contribution to global conflict.
'A landmark work on perhaps the essential question of our time' - David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth
In this ground-breaking book, environmental journalist, Peter Schwartzstein, takes the reader on the first on-the-ground exploration of climate change's contribution to global conflict. From the ravaged villages of Iraq, where ISIS has used drought as a recruiting tool and weapon of terror, to the pirate-ridden waters of Bangladesh - and drawing on more than a decade of reporting from dozens of countries - Schwartzstein writes about the unexpected ways in which climate change is feeding global unrest and conflict. Through the stories of the soldiers, farmers, spies and others affected around the world, he makes sense of a form of conflict that remains poorly understood, even as it devastates the lives of so many millions of people.
While researching this book, Schwartzstein was chased by kidnappers, detained by police and told, in no uncertain terms, that he was no longer welcome in certain countries. Yet, as he recounts, these personal brushes with violence are simply a hint of the conflict simmering in our warming world.
As Schwartztein's unparalleled reporting shows, there's nothing inevitable about climate violence. In fact, as he sets out, the same stresses that are pitching people against one another can even help bring them back together.
At last - the red hot link between climate change and conflict laid out clearly, and laid bare. Schwartzstein has been, has seen, and tells it as it is -- Tim Marshall, author of PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY
Peter Schwartzstein's The Heat and the Fury is a richly reported, beautifully rendered, remarkably complex and rewarding meditation on the interplay of planetary instability and human brutality - a landmark work on perhaps the essential question of our time -- David Wallace-Wells, author of THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH
A compelling and expert read about the most important issue of our times that is in danger of being marginalised by an extraordinary lack of political will -- Patrick Cockburn, author of THE RISE OF ISLAMIC STATE
Fascinating. In a mammoth reporting feat, Schwartzstein takes readers across the world to the frontlines of climate change - from the villages of the Sahel to Iraq's fight against jihadis, while always making sure to include nuance and context. I learnt a huge amount from this book -- Sally Hayden, author of MY FOURTH TIME, WE DROWNED
Never has a book on the climate crisis been so thrilling and so rich in adventure. While bullets and mortars fly overhead most of us see only the immediate conflict, Schwartzstein sees the bigger picture. He takes us into the trenches of the climate emergency and exposes the role it plays in destabilising communities, states, and the world. This is a brave and unique book. It paints a grim picture of the accelerating instability of the poorest communities in already vulnerable states. But is still a thrilling read thanks to the swashbuckling adventures of Schwartzstein. Travelling by bus, boat, and donkey cart, he takes us from Samarra to Khartoum and Kathmandu and beyond, meeting pirates, smugglers, jihadists and militiamen along the way. Beautifully written, darkly comedic in places and with a keen ear and eye for detail -- Quentin Sommerville, BBC Middle East correspondent
ISBN: 9781804442258
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
336 pages