Wood

tzi the iceman could not do without wood when he was climbing his Alpine glacier, nor could medieval cathedral-builders or today's construction companies. From time immemorial, the skill of the human hand has developed by working wood, so much so that we might say that the handling of wood is a basic element in the history of the human body. The fear of a future wood famine became a panic in the 18th century and sparked the beginnings of modern environmentalism. This book traces the cultural history of wood and offers a highly original account of the connection between the raw material and the human beings who benefit from it. Even more, it shows that wood can provide a key for a better understanding of history, of the pecularities as well as the varieties of cultures, of a co-evolution of nature and culture, and even of the rise and fall of great powers. Beginning with Stone Age hunters, it follows the twists and turns of the story through the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution to the global society of the twenty-first century, in which wood is undergoing a varied and unexpected renaissance. Radkau is sceptical of claims that wood is about to disappear, arguing that such claims are self-serving arguments promoted by interest groups to secure cheaper access to, and control over, wood resources. The whole forest and timber industry often strikes the outsider as a world unto itself, a hermetically sealed black box, but when we lift the lid on this box, as Radkau does here, we will be surprised by what we find within. Wide-ranging and accessible, this rich historical analysis of one of our most cherished natural resources will find a wide readership.

Ötzi the iceman could not do without wood when he was climbing his Alpine glacier, nor could medieval cathedral-builders or today's construction companies. From time immemorial, the skill of the human hand has developed by working wood, so much so that we might say that the handling of wood is a basic element in the history of the human body. The fear of a future wood famine became a panic in the 18th century and sparked the beginnings of modern environmentalism.This book traces the cultural history of wood and offers a highly original account of the connection between the raw material and the human beings who benefit from it. Even more, it shows that wood can provide a key for a better understanding of history, of the pecularities as well as the varieties of cultures, of a co-evolution of nature and culture, and even of the rise and fall of great powers. Beginning with Stone Age hunters, it follows the twists and turns of the story through the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution to the global society of the twenty-first century, in which wood is undergoing a varied and unexpected renaissance. Radkau is sceptical of claims that wood is about to disappear, arguing that such claims are self-serving arguments promoted by interest groups to secure cheaper access to, and control over, wood resources. The whole forest and timber industry often strikes the outsider as a world unto itself, a hermetically sealed black box, but when we lift the lid on this box, as Radkau does here, we will be surprised by what we find within.Wide-ranging and accessible, this rich historical analysis of one of our most cherished natural resources will find a wide readership.

Acknowledgements viiIntroduction: Praising Wood, Caring for Wood, Splitting Wood and a Historical Synthesis 1Chapter 1 Paths into the Thicket of History 131 The 'Wood Age' 142 Man and Forest: Stories and History 283 Wood and Historical Change 34Chapter 2 Middle Ages and Early Modern Period: MaximumExploitation and the Beginnings of Sustainability 561 Medieval Society and the Limits of the Forest 572 Timber Becomes a Commodity 703 Large- Scale Firewood Consumption and the First Wave of ForestOrdinance 92Chapter 3 From the Apogee of the 'Wood Age' tothe Industrial Revolution 1351 Reform, Revolution and the Wood Economy 1362 The 'Spectre of Shortage': Did the Timber TradeFace Catastrophe? 1563 The Forest: From Living Space to Capital 1724 Wood Consumers: Economies in the Home and Outside 2055 Rollback 228Chapter 4 Wood in the High Industrial Age: Degradation andRebirth 2391 The Forest as an Economic Factor 2402 Technological Revolution in the Timber Industry 2563 Fissile Material and Bonding Agent: Forest and Wood in theEco- Age 276Chapter 5 Global Prospects and Contrasts 2941 Lessons from Asia 2952 Conflicts and (Ostensible) Solutions 3183 Looking Back to the Future: Six Spotlights on the History ofForest and Wood 324Postscript: The Mystery of Certificates, or, SustainableForestry versus Greenwashing 327Wood Talk 330References and Bibliography 340Index 376