Americans and Their Weather
Americans and Their Weather – Review
William B. Meyer defends the description of relations, mostly economic, between Americans, and their weather and climate. The prose is serviceable, but there is a group of information, a group of it surprising. Examples: Climate was a main motivation for English colonization. The warmer climate in the South finally allowed various crops to be grown than in England. They would not compete with English crops, and would replace imports from hot countries like Italy. The Urban Heat Island effect was located in grand times. It was believed enough of a health threat that President Thomas Jefferson offered measures to ameliorate it, which were pretty much ignored. The great difference of rural workers who eventually went to California during the Depression, were not in fact Okies apparently fleeing the Dust Bowl. They were ex-sharecroppers from the South, fleeing accidental results of government policies. "Most migrants to California were victims less of the immediate results of severe weather than of measures adopted for protection against fair weather." (p. 162) I recommend this book to anyone interested in public policy closely related to weather or climate, or in a unique perspective on American history.