Here, four authors tackle the problems of empires and the environment, whether
the ability of disease to wreck imperial military plans in the 1700s or the problems
of a huge totalitarian state seeking food in international waters. Together, they
provide interesting perspectives on the interaction of culture and nature on a
larger scale. The Soviet state believed that it could control nature through heavy
applications of applied science, and natural systems crumbled under the
onslaught.
