Climate by Proxy

A History of Scientific Reconstructions of the Past and Future

Melissa Charenko

$57.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of Chicago Press
05 November 2025

History of science; Meteorology & climatology

How twentieth-century scientists used proxies to understand historic climates, shaping scientific analyses of the past and the future.

Unlike our daily reckoning with the weather, our experience of climate must be mediated through methods that measure the ebb and flow of climate, such as computer models, instruments like thermometers, and organic and inorganic remains known as ""proxies."" Climate by Proxy by Melissa Charenko explores how scientists read the record of past climates and how their readings have engendered particular understandings of climate. Charenko focuses on the twentieth century, a period when scientists in Europe and North America began to believe that climate had a dynamic history worth studying. Scientists in this period developed several techniques to infer past climate from fossil pollen, tree rings, pieces of vegetation, and other organic remains imprinted upon by former climates. Climate by Proxy examines how these techniques helped shape notions of climate itself.

Charenko also shows how these varied interpretations of climate played an outsized role in explanations of human history and destiny. Geologists, botanists, ecologists, and other scientists interested in climate over long timescales routinely discussed how climate influenced plants, animals, and, notably, people. By following the scientists who reconstructed climate using natural archives, Climate by Proxy demonstrates how material objects worked with scientists' perceptions of human groups to compel, constrain, and reinforce their understandings of climate, history, and the future.

By: Melissa Charenko
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9780226844107
ISBN 10: 0226844102
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 05 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1: Making Climate Dynamic in the Human Period: Plant Macrofossils and Geoarchaeological Evidence Chapter 2: Climate as a Driver of Human History: Pollen and Tree Rings Chapter 3: Prediction or Prophecy During the Dust Bowl? Pollen and Tree Rings Chapter 4: Narrating the Pleistocene Extinctions: Sloth Dung and Packrat Middens Chapter 5: Looking Forward When the Future Is Unprecedented: Analogs Conclusion: Proxy Work Today: A Complex Whole Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes Index

Melissa Charenko is assistant professor in history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews for Climate by Proxy: A History of Scientific Reconstructions of the Past and Future

“Charenko opens a new vista for the history of climate science by looking beyond predictive models. She shows that the most powerful tools for understanding the human meanings of climate change may well be nature’s own. Climate by Proxy reveals what’s at stake when scientists read tree stumps, pollen, and even excrement for clues to the human future.” -- Deborah R. Coen, author of “Climate in Motion: Science, Empire, and the Problem of Scale”