Americans and Their Weather

Rating:
Summary: A different angle on American history
Review: William B. Meyer covers the history of relations, mostly economic, between Americans, and their weather and climate. The prose is serviceable, but there is a lot of information, a lot of it surprising. Examples:

Climate was a major motivation for English colonization. The warmer climate in the South allowed different crops to be grown than in England. They would not compete with English crops, and would replace imports from warm countries like Italy.

The Urban Heat Island effect was discovered in colonial times. It was considered enough of a health threat that President Thomas Jefferson proposed measures to ameliorate it, which were pretty much ignored.

The large majority of agricultural workers who went to California during the Depression, were not in fact Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl. They were ex-sharecroppers from the South, fleeing unintended consequences of government policies. "Most migrants to California were victims less of the direct effects of bad weather than of measures taken for protection against good weather." (p. 162)

I recommend this book to anyone interested in public policy related to weather or climate, or in a different perspective on American history.