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The Mistral
Catherine Tatiana Dunlop
其他書名
A Windswept History of Modern France
出版
University of Chicago Press
, 2024-10-22
主題
Science / General
Science / Earth Sciences / Geography
Science / History
History / Europe / General
ISBN
0226827550
9780226827551
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=zQQYEQAAQBAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api
EBook
SAMPLE
註釋
An in-depth look at the hidden power of the mistral wind and its effect on modern French history.
Every year, the chilly mistral wind blows through the Rhône valley of southern France, across the Camargue wetlands, and into the Mediterranean Sea. Most forceful when winter turns to spring, the wind knocks over trees, sweeps trains off their tracks, and destroys crops. Yet the mistral turns the sky clear and blue, as it often appears in depictions of Provence. The legendary wind is central to the area’s regional identity and has inspired artists and writers near and far for centuries.
This force of nature is the focus of Catherine Dunlop’s The Mistral, a wonderfully written examination of the power of the mistral wind, and in particular, the ways it challenged central tenets of nineteenth-century European society: order, mastery, and predictability. As Dunlop shows, while the modernizing state sought liberation from environmental realities through scientific advances, land modification, and other technological solutions, the wind blew on, literally crushing attempts at control, and becoming increasingly integral to regional feelings of place and community.