Alfred W. Crosby is Professor Emeritus in American Studies, History, and Geography at the University of Texas, Austin, where he taught for more than 20 years. His previous books include Ecological Imperialism (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2004), America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influence of 1918 (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2003), and The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600 (Cambridge University Press, 1997). The Measure of Reality was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the 100 most important books of 1997.
Part I. Who, Why, and How: 1. The Pliocene: something new is afoot
Part II. The First Acceleration, The First Projectiles: 2. The Pliocene and Pleistocene: 'you are what you throw'
3. The Pleistocene and Holocene: 'cooking the Earth'
4. The Upper Paleolithic: 'humanity and other disasters'
5. From weapon craftsmanship to weapon technology
Part III. The Second Acceleration: Gunpowder: 6. The Chinese elixir
7. Gunpowder as centripetal force
8. Brown Bess to Big Bertha
Part IV. The Third Acceleration: Into Extraterrestrial and Subatomic Space: 9. The V-2 and the bomb
10. The longest throws
Part V. The Fourth Acceleration.
Part I. Who, Why, and How
1. The Pliocene: something new is afoot
Part II. The First Acceleration, The First Projectiles
2. The Pliocene and Pleistocene: 'you are what you throw'
3. The Pleistocene and Holocene: 'cooking the Earth'
4. The Upper Paleolithic: 'humanity and other disasters'
5. From weapon craftsmanship to weapon technology
Part III. The Second Acceleration: Gunpowder
6. The Chinese elixir
7. Gunpowder as centripetal force
8. Brown Bess to Big Bertha
Part IV. The Third Acceleration: Into Extraterrestrial and Subatomic Space
9. The V-2 and the bomb
10. The longest throws
Part V. The Fourth Acceleration
