Reaching and Grasping: Some Reflections on Joachim Radkau's Nature and Power

Radkau's ambitious volume illustrates both the opportunities and the risks offered by expansive chronological overviews. His environmental approach to global history confronts some of the challenges common to all such projects, such as the inevitable need for heavy selection. Environmental history adds both special benefits and special costs that are derived from its connection to current politics and from its distinctive subject matter.