Originally published on October 30, 2023 (Episode 340)
Introduction
“We live in a world that feels as though it is in the grip of rapid and capricious change. To rescue ourselves from the distress and dismay that change can induce, we tell ourselves that flux is the signature of contemporary life and sets us apart from the simpler worlds in which those before us lived… Yet we really have little ground to be so confident that present flux is outdoing past, for there have been times when the very conditions of survival were stripped from our predecessors, denying them the dignity of living well. This book is about one of those times, China in the early 1640s, when massive climate cooling, pandemic, and military invasion sent millions to their deaths.”
Those are the words of my guest Timothy Brook, which open his new book The Price of Collapse: The Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China. Founded in 1368, the Ming overthrew Mongol rule, eventually moved the capital of China to Beijing, and ushered in centuries of economic growth, dazzling cultural achievements, and a doubling of the population. Brook’s book is an inquiry into how that achievement collapsed—and why.
About the Guest
Timothy Brook is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of British Columbia. His work focuses on the Ming Dynasty, but extends to both earlier and later eras. This is his second appearance on Historically Thinking; he was last on to discuss his book Great State: China and the World (Harper, 2020).
For Further Investigation
Timothy Brook, The Price of Collapse: The Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China (Princeton, 2023)
Related Episodes
Previously on the podcast Timothy Brook spoke about his book, Great State: China and the World (Harper, 2020)
“Porcelain” with Suzanne Marchand
Tree rings and climate in “Stories Told By Trees”
“Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith” with Philip Jenkins
More on the collapse of the Ming Dynasty with Tonio Andrade on “The Gunpowder Revolution”
💬 Listen & Discuss
Can price history really serve as a tool to diagnose climate change as effectively as tree rings or glacier cores? Share your reflections in the comments, and pass this episode along to someone interested in climate, crisis, and the history of China.
