In this modern era of global environmental crisis, Sing Chew provides a convincing analysis of a 5,000-year history of recurring human and environmental crises_a Dark Ages significant in defining the relationship between nature and culture. The author's message about the coming Dark Ages, as human communities continue to reorganize to meet the contingencies of ecological scarcity and climate changes, is a must-read for those concerned with human interactions and environmental changes, including environmental anthropologists and historians, world historians, geographers, archaeologists, and environmental scientists.