This anthology of studies by the eminent geographer and climate scientist Eduard Brückner (1862-1927) on anthropogenic climate change and the social, political and economic impact of climate variations on societies in historical times, assembles his pioneering work in English for the first time. The issues discussed by Brückner are now considered to be among the most pressing facing modern society and climate research. At the turn of the twentieth century, Brückner was one of the central protagonists in a vigorous debate in science and society about global climate variability and its political and economic significance.

The studies published here were chosen to demonstrate Brückner 's wide-ranging scientific interest in climate variability, his extensive empirical research and theoretical analysis of climate change, his assessment of contemporary analyses and thinking about anthropogenic climate change (such as the widespread concern about desiccation), and how he approached the questions of the transfer of scientific knowledge into society.

In many ways Brückner was a thoroughly modern scientist, convinced, for example, that the issue of climate change and its impact was of considerable scientific merit and that future climate changes are of great significance for the well-being of humankind as well as for the global balance of political and economic relations. Brückner 's formidable ideas should have a significant impact on our present views of climate, climate variability and climate impact.