Utilizing environmental archival materials from the UK, State, Science and the Skies presents a groundbreaking historical account of the development of a state science of atmospheric pollution.

• Offers the most extensive historical and geographical account of atmospheric government and pollution in Britain, available today
• Presents archival material from 150 years of British history that represents an original contribution to our knowledge of the history of science and government
• Develops an innovative combination of Foucauldian history of government with a history of atmospheric science
• Raises crucial questions about the nature of state/science relations and the conditions under which environmental knowledge is produced

About the Author
Mark Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University; and Senior Research Fellow at the City Institute, York University, Toronto. His published works include Spaces of Sustainability: Geographical Perspectives on the Sustainable Society (2006); and The Nature of the State: Excavating the Political Ecologies of the Modern State (co-author, 2007).

Reviews

"Mark Whitehead's 2009 book State, Science and the Skies constitutes a compelling and important contribution to the RGS-IBG Book Series . . . This fascinating book is part of an increasing literature on a much neglected area of study: the role and importance of the atmosphere in our lives (e.g. Jankovic, 2000; Latour, 2003; Strauss and Orlove, 2003; Kessel, 2006; Thornes, 2008) . . . State, Science and the Skies should provide us with an important guide to the geographies of the atmosphere. It is especially helpful in order to cultivate some sense of relief to Sloterdijk's (2009) emphasis on the air as a means of administering death through environmental means." (Geoform, 1 September 2012)

Book Information
ISBN 9781405191739
Author Mark Whitehead
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 426g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 18mm