The Year Without a Summer

In 1816, snow fell in New England in June, birds dropped dead from the sky in London, and famine swept across Europe. Historian David Nash presents "The Year Without a Summer," a gripping narrative of the global climate catastrophe caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the previous year. Nash connects the dots between this geological event and massive societal shifts. He explains how the stratospheric ash cloud caused crop failures that led to the first major Jewish migration from Europe to America and spurred the invention of the bicycle (as horses became too expensive to feed). Culturally, the gloomy, incessant rain trapped Mary Shelley indoors near Lake Geneva, leading directly to the writing of Frankenstein. The book combines volcanology, meteorology, and social history to paint a picture of a world on the brink. Nash draws parallels to modern climate change, showing how fragile our agricultural systems are when the weather deviates from the norm. It is a story of human resilience and adaptation in the face of a sun that refused to shine.