A Concise History of World Population: An Introduction to Population Processes

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian


Card catalog description
This book describes and explains the history of human population. It examines the changing patterns of its growth, and the effects upon it of migrations, wars, disease, technology and culture. Since its publication in 1992 it has become the most widely read account of the subject, valued for its contemporary recasting of theory, for its informative and accessible style, and for its reasoned treatment of issues crucial to the future of every species. The book is now published in a fully revised edition, taking account of recent trends and research. The author provides a new account of the causes and consequences of European migration and colonization, and of the interactive influence of nature, place and space on settlement and population dynamics. He has revised his discussion of the relationship between development, affluence and population change. The final chapters of the book have been entirely recast to give an extensive analysis of the carrying capacity of the planet in relation to a possible doubling of population during the next fifty years. The author examines the effects of changes in relative affluence and population growth on food production, resources and the natural environment.


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Addressing the question that Malthus first tackled in his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), Livi-Bacci (demography, U. of Florence, Italy) revisits the question of the precarious balance between resources and human population growth, but brings a much wider set of variables into the discussion. Exploring the effects of reproductive strategies, disease, resource availability, land availability, industrial development, environmental damage, migrations, and wars, he presents the history of human population as a constant compromise between constraints and choice. Constraints have been imposed by a hostile environment, by disease, by the limitations of available food and energy, and now by an environment in danger of collapse. In opposition to this, choices include flexible strategies of marriage and reproduction; of mobility, migration, and settlement; and of defense from disease. He argues that this dynamic should not be seen as the product of a spontaneous self-regulating mechanism, but instead as a difficult process of adaptation that rewards more flexible populations while penalizing more fragile and rigid ones. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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