A fascinating handbook providing a rare synthesis of the environmental history of northern Europe from the Paleolithic era to the present day. Of interest to students and academics alike, this book provides a much-needed synthesis of the recent literature on northern Europe's environmental history. Beginning with the Paleolithic period and the recolonization of Europe after the Ice Age, this book maps out the key environmental trends in the history of the region's environment and its interaction with the human population. The book also highlights how dramatic events outside Europe, such as the Tomboro volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815, had dramatic consequences for the region's climate. Given the culturally diverse nature of modern Europe, a vital aspect of the book is its identification of the common themes that unite the interaction of the region's nation-states with the natural environment. Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, the book enables readers to better grasp the extent of humanity's effect on our world.

The discussion of critical infrastructures is dominated by the use of the interlinked concepts "criticality", "vulnerability", "resilience", and "preparedness and prevention". These terms can be detected in public discourse as well as in scientific debates. Often, they are used simultaneously in a normative as well as in a descriptive way. The PhD candidates of the interdisciplinary Research Training Group KRITIS at Technische Universitat Darmstadt examine these concepts systematically one by one and discuss the links between them. They give a critical overview over the uses and limitations of these concepts. Informed by the approaches in Science and Technology Studies, they focus on the interrelatedness of technology and society. The book aims at creating a common ground for interdisciplinary infrastructure research. The authors are from history, philosophy, political science, civil engineering, urban and spatial planning and computer science.

Within Europe Great Britain and Germany are leading the way when it comes to environmental-historical debates. This volume documents the first explicit exchange between German and British environmental historians concerning their respective topics and methods, which took place at the 24th meeting of the Prince Albert Society under the heading "Environment and History in Britain and Germany." Articles by one renowned German and one renowned British environmental historian are included in each case on each of the following subjects: "Environmental Historiography," "Resources and Sustainability," "The Challenges of Industrialization and Urbanization," as well as "Protecting the Environment." The book provides a fascinating insight into two scientific cultures and documents the central importance of environmental history for the understanding of modern societies.

Im Rahmen einer eintagigen Konferenz an der TU Darmstadt, deren Beitrage in diesem Band wiedergegeben sind, hat das Institut fur Geschichte das Lebenswerk seines Grunders Karl Otmar Freiherr von Aretin in seinem ganzen Umfang ausgelotet. Der im Marz 2014 verstorbene Historiker war zweifellos das prominenteste Mitglied des Instituts. Die Zahl seiner nationalen und internationalen Ehrungen, seine Doppelrolle als Professor in Darmstadt und Direktor der Universalgeschichtlichen Abteilung des Instituts fur Europaische Geschichte Mainz, seine Funktionen namentlich innerhalb der Organisationen der Geschichtswissenschaft und nicht zuletzt seine enorme Publikationsliste zeigen das eindrucklich.

Der Sammelband untersucht - in Deutschland erstmalig - die Entwicklung von Korruptionspraktiken und -debatten von der Fruhen Neuzeit bis in die Gegenwart. Die Fallstudien zeigen, wie sich die Definition und die Akzeptanz von Korruption und verwandten Handlungsmustern wandelten. In fruhneuzeitlichen Kontexten waren diese offensichtlich und alltaglich. Staatliche Modernisierung und Verrechtlichung trugen ab dem 19. Jahrhundert auf einer normativen Ebene zur Trennung von Privatsphare und Offentlichkeit bei, verdrangten jedoch korrupte Praktiken nicht. Diese hatten weiterhin eine wichtige Funktion, sei es als Teil eines politischen Systems, sei es als Anlass fur Auseinandersetzungen uber Moral und politische Werte. Die Modernisierung in der Neueren Geschichte zeigt sich weniger in der Zuruckdrangung von Verflechtung und Do-ut-des-Beziehungen als vielmehr in ihrer offentlich zur Schau gestellten Delegitimierung."