In this modern era of global environmental crisis, Sing Chew provides a convincing analysis of the recurring human and environmental crises identified as Dark Ages. In this his second of a three-volume series concerning world ecological degradation, Chew reviews the past 5,000-year history of structural conditions and processes that define the relationship between nature and culture. He defines these specific conjunctures in world history, Dark Ages, as significant transitional phases, critical to the evolution of the world system. Chew reveals them to be periods of devolution of human communities, of socioeconomic and political decay and retrogression, at the same time as they are periods of the restoration of the landscape.
Chew's message about the coming Dark Ages, as human communities continue to reorganize to meet the contingencies of ecological scarcity and climate changes, is a must-read for those concerned with human interactions and environmental changes, including environmental anthropologists and historians, world historians, geographers, archaeologists, and environmental scientists.