Sing C. Chew is professor and chairperson of the Department of Sociology at Humboldt State University, in Arcata, California. Prior to his current appointment, he was the Associate Director in the Office of Vice-President (Resources), International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. He has been a Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore, and recently, Guest Researcher at the Human Ecology Division, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, where this book was completed. His most recent book is a co-edited volume: The Underdevelopment of Development: Essays in Honor of Andre Gunder Frank.

• Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 1. Ecological Degradation over World HistoryChapter 3 2. Third Millenium Bronze Age World System: Mesopotamia and HarappaChapter 4 3. Second Millennium Bronze Age World System: Crete and Mycenaean GreeceChapter 5 4. The Age of City States: Classical GreeceChapter 6 5. The Age of Empire: RomeChapter 7 6. The Sun Rises and Sets in the EastChapter 8 7. The Emerging EconomiesChapter 9 8. Europe at the HelmChapter 10 9. Ecological Consciousness and Social Movements among les ancients et les modernesChapter 11 BibliographyChapter 12 Index

Sing Chew's book is an outstanding contribution to environmental history. By utilizing world systems theory and presenting the pattern of overuse of resources by many different civilizations as they attempted to grow their empires over the past five thousand years, he demonstrates that our current ecological crisis is larger in scale but not different in fundamental form from historical patterns of resource exploitation. This book should be on the 'must read' list for all students of environmental history, environmental studies, and environmental philosophy.