IIt is good to see that McNeill’s classic study

of Mediterranean mountains, originally pub-

lished in 1992, is now in paperback. Braudel

famously said that the mountains came first

in the Mediterranean, tumbling into that

azure sea, emerging as high islands like

Crete or Corsica, even once being all the

land before the Flood raised sea levels. This

book is yet another good addition to the

Cambridge series on Environment and

History which also includes Alfred Crosby’s

Ecological Imperialism.

McNeill wants to explain why the

Mediterranean mountains are so denuded

and dry today. This is a first class mystery

story based on archival research (including

the FAO) and extensive wanderings in five

ranges: the Taurus (Turkey), Pindus

(Greece), Lucanian Appenines (Italy), Rif

(Morocco) and Alpujarra (Spain). Once,

these mountains were so forested that

Tamerlane could hide elephants in them and

the good and great flocked to the cooler

orchards and gardens away from the foetid malarial swamps.

Meiggs— the long haired Oxford don and doyen of ancient historians who had conclusively

shown that the Mediterranean mountains had been a boreal environment just two thousand

years ago— inspired McNeill to explain the deforestation over tea on the Balliol lawn. What

had changed was not only, or mainly, the physical geography but the political economy, cul-

ture and society of the region. The Romans might have started the rot, for they (like the

modern mafia) were suspicious of trees that could hide enemies of their authority. That’s

why the legions moved over the Alps on the broad passes and alpages, avoiding areas like

the Jura (which is a pre-Roman word for forests). The Christians, for instance in the con-

Resources ffrom CCEESP mmembers

The MMountains oof tthe MMediterranean WWorld—

An eenvironmental hhistory

By JJohn RRobert MMcNeill, CCambridge UUniversity

Press, CCambridge ((UK), 22003. 4423 pp.

SShhoorrtt rreevviieeww bbyy DDaavviidd PPiitttt