Society member Catherine Tatiana Dunlop has recently published a new book with the University of Chicago Press, The Mistral: A Windswept History of Modern France (2024), based on her research project during her Rachel Carson Center fellowship.
“This force of nature is the focus of Catherine Dunlop’s The Mistral, a wonderfully written examination of the power of the mistral wind, and in particular, the ways it challenged central tenets of nineteenth-century European society: order, mastery, and predictability. As Dunlop shows, while the modernizing state sought liberation from environmental realities through scientific advances, land modification, and other technological solutions, the wind blew on, literally crushing attempts at control, and becoming increasingly integral to regional feelings of place and community.” (Text from the University of Chicago Press)
The Rachel Carson Center’s Environment & Society Portal features an excerpt of the book in the Books & Profiles section.There is also a recording of her presentation on “Force of Nature: The Mistral in French History” freely accessable on our YouTube channel.
