Fear of Farming [Paperback]

The environmental crisis is one of the most pressing concerns to face the population of the world today. The debate centres on the way in which our current problems are of recent making and how we might fix them. But in reality the issue is far more fundamental and stretches back further in time than many of us might think. This book traces the origins of our present situation to the changes that came about with the introduction of farming to Britain 6000 years ago and the inexorable course of human development since then. This is a course which has set us on the path to catastrophe. However, there is hope. The book also looks at the much older traits from a way of life long gone in Britain, from the hunter-gatherers who lived here over the millennia before the introduction of farming. These traits, almost forgotten, but never quite lost, are now re-surfacing and may hold many of the keys to our continued existence.

1. Where Are We Now?
2. The First Hunters
3. Gathering Nuts, Watching the Moon
4. We Are Not Alone
5. The Arrival of the Bread-Makers
6. New Ways
7. New World, New Thoughts
8. Brave New World - what went wrong?
9. New Lives, New Ways, New Problems
10. Just How Civilised Are We?
11. Adam and Eve are Alive and Kicking

"The archaeologists perspective of the long past from which we have come, together with her own first-hand studies of many sites and peoples of today, has given Caroline Wickham-Jones an ideal standpoint from which to write this book. It is clearly and logically written, building up its arguments step by step, and is fresh and lively. She writes to raise awareness of what is being lost with the vanishing of the hunter-gatherer societies and seeks to open up a dialogue, at a time when we need new options; and she makes the case superbly. It is a book that everyone should read.'"
Howie Firth
Orkney International Science Festival (August 2010)

"a must read for anyone who wants a clear summary of our latest thinking about the prehistory of the British Isles, drawing on the research of numerous Fellows and on ethnographic parallels.'"
Christopher Catling
SALON - The Society of Antiquaries Online Newsletter, No. 243 (November 2010)

"It is an interesting counterbalance to those who, focused in the future, argue there is a technological fix for all environmental problems.'"
Martin Bell
British Archaeology (July/August 2011)