THE EARTH TRANSFORMED, by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury, $44.99)
After the success of his two Silk Roads books, Oxford history professor Peter Frankopan has stepped up to the “big picture” stakes by describing the arc from ancient to modern times through the impact of climate and humankind on the Earth’s environment.
covers many millennia, but two-thirds of its 600-plus-page text, not counting an index and sources, relate only to