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Plagues, climate change, and the end of an empire. A Response to Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome (3): Disease, agency and collapse

Haldon, John and Elton, Hugh and Huebner, Sabine R. and Izdebski, Adam and Mordechai, Lee and Newfield, Timothy P.. (2018) Plagues, climate change, and the end of an empire. A Response to Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome (3): Disease, agency and collapse. History Compass, 16 (12). pp. 1-10.

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Official URL: https://edoc.unibas.ch/67520/

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Abstract

This is the last of a three‐part review of Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome. Here, we scrutinize Harper's treatment of the Justinianic Plague, demonstrating how he crafts a convincing narrative based on rhetorical flourishes but little evidence. We call further attention to several internal contradictions within the chapter and misinterpretations of evidence. We conclude this series of articles with a reflection on Harper's deterministic approach to environmental history. While the environment appears everywhere, agency (people: society and culture) is mostly absent. We finish by emphasizing the need to develop more nuanced causal explanations for complex historical processes and suggest that future attempts to bring together such wide‐ranging material be done within interdisciplinary research teams.
Faculties and Departments:04 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > Departement Altertumswissenschaften > Fachbereich Alte Geschichte > Alte Geschichte (Huebner)
UniBasel Contributors:Huebner, Sabine R.
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:1478-0542
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Identification Number:
Last Modified:10 Jan 2019 13:20
Deposited On:10 Jan 2019 13:20

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