Mazur Allan. Ice Ages: Their Social and Natural History

Cambridge University Press, 2022. — 272 p.What causes Ice Ages? How did we learn about them? What were their affects on the social history of humanity? Allan Mazur's book tells the appealing history of the scientific 'discovery' of Ice Ages. How we learned that much of the Earth was repeatedly covered by huge ice sheets, why that occurred, and how the waning of the last Ice Age paved the way for agrarian civilization and, ultimately, our present social structures. The book discusses implications for the current 'controversies' over anthropogenic climate change, public understanding of science, and (lack of) 'trust in experts'. In parallel to the history and science of Ice Ages, sociologist Mazur highlights why this is especially relevant right now for humanity. Ice Ages: Their Social and Natural History is an engrossing combination of natural science and social history: glaciology and sociology writ large.Allan Mazur is a professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has also worked in the aerospace industry. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is interested in biosociology and conflicts over science, technology, and the environment. He is author or co-author of over 200 academic publications and ten books, including Biosociology of Dominance and Deference (2005), Global Social Problems (2007), and True Warnings and False Alarms: Evaluating Fears about the Health Risks of Technology, 1948-1971 (2010)