Climate Change in Popular Culture: A Warming World in the American Imagination

An invaluable resource for general readers investigating climate change, this book examines the impact of climate change on popular culture and analyzes how writers and directors treat the disasters caused by climate change in their novels and films.

Climate Change in Popular Culture: A Warming World in the American Imagination is the first study that includes analyses of both fiction and popular nonfiction works devoted to climate change. In addition, the book examines a number of classic works from the perspective of the growing field of climate change literature and includes a brief history of climate change science as well basic scientific definitions, all intended for general readers.

The text provides an introduction to the science, politics, and economics of climate change. It also includes both historical overviews and potential probable futures projected by leading climate scientists and environmental writers. In addition, the text looks at how such creative writers and directors as Margaret Atwood, John Steinbeck, Paulo Bacigalupi, Kim Stanley Robinson, T. C. Boyle, Michael Crichton, and Octavia Butler, among others, have used the disasters caused by climate change in their work.

James Craig Holte, PhD, is professor emeritus of English and film studies at East Carolina University.