When Weather Changed the Course of History

By: Caroline Winterer

Narrated by: Caroline Winterer

Length: 54 mins

Publisher's summary

One Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds of religion, government, literature, and social justice.

Weather and climate have been shaping human history for thousands of years. Blizzards, hurricanes, droughts, dust storms, and floods: All of them have been turning points. Weather disasters seem so much bigger than we are, but they're accurate barometers for telling us about what we value as human beings.

This course will examine some of these major turning points (some of them based on controversial evidence!), from the ancient world, to Napoleon's invasion of Russia, to the Dust Bowl, to Hurricane Katrina. How have weather disasters shaped human history, and what can this tell us about how we think about climate change today?

This audio lecture includes a supplemental PDF.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2021 Caroline Winterer (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Superficial Introduction

This is a brief introduction of some of the conceptual ideas of weather's impact on human history. It is very superficial as you might expect given it's only 54 minutes. She very briefly covers a number of events, but only the highlights. (What, When, Why we remember it.) I get the sense she knows her stuff, it's just too short of a work to go into it in any detail. If the author were to have a longer lecture series I would give it a try, but as it stands, there are far more comprehensive looks at the effects of weather on historical events. Or in the case of one of her examples -- the effects of volcanism on weather/climate. IMO, it would have been better to select a single event and dive deeply into the event, its causes, and its impact on humanity.

The bad -- the audio quality is laughably amateurish. It's clear they are using a statically placed mic instead of a lapel mic. You hear her voice fade as she (presumably) walks to where her slides are showing to describe things. You also hear a "wind" effect on the microphone at times. It's not so bad as to be intolerable, but it is very noticeable. Yes, I know it's a live recording, but that is no excuse in 2021, especially for a paid product. As far as the speaker herself, particularly at the start she seems winded and gaspy, I don't know if this is because of the nature of the stage she's presenting on and if she had to climb some stairs first or what -- this does improve over time. Generally speaking, she was an engaging speaker with clear vocals.