Table of Contents

•  
  • Acknowledgments   
  • 1    Introduction    1
  Pt. I    Life, Death, and Health    29
  • 2    Human Mortality Throughout History and Prehistory    30
  • 3    The Decline of Childhood Mortality    37
  • 4    Disease and Health through the Ages    51
  • 5    The Contribution of Improved Nutrition to the Decline in Mortality Rates in Europe and America    61
  • 6    Trends in Health of the US Population: 1957-89    72
  • 7    Mortality and Health in the former Soviet Union    85
  • 8    Worldwide Historical Trends in Murder and Suicide    91
  • 9    The History of Accident Rates in the United States    98
  • 10    World Trends in Smoking    106
  • 11    Long-Term Trends in the Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages    114
  Pt. II    Standard of Living, Productivity, and Poverty    123
  • 12    Trends in the Agricultural Labor Force    124
  • 13    The Standard of Living Through the Ages    135
  • 14    Long-Term Trends in the US Standard of Living    149
  • 15    Long-Term Trends in Productivity    161
  • 16    The Extent of Slavery and Freedom Throughout the Ages, in the World as a Whole and in Major Subareas    171
  • 17    Black Americans: Income and Standard of Living from the Days of Slavery to the Present    178
  • 18    The Long-Term Course of American Inequality: 1647-1969    188
  • 19    Trends in Unemployment in the United States    196
  • 20    Trends in Costs and Quality of Housing    203
  • 21    Trends in the Quantities of Education - USA and Elsewhere    208
  • 22    Trends in Free Time    224
  • 23    Trends in Poverty in the United States    231
  • 24    How "Poor" Are America's Poor?    241
  • 25    Homelessness in America    257
  • 26    The Recent US Economy    271
  Pt. III    Natural Resources    279
  • 27    Long-Term Trends in Energy Prices    280
  • 28    Trends in the Price and Supply of Oil    287
  • 29    The Costs of Nuclear Power    294
  • 30    Trends in Availability of Non-Fuel Minerals    303
  • 31    Trends in Nonrenewable Resources    313
  • 32    Trends in Availability and Usage of Outdoor Recreation    323
  • 33    Global Forests Revisited    328
  • 34    Species Loss Revisited    346
  Pt. IV    Agriculture, Food, Land, and Water    363
  • 35    Agricultural Productivity Before the Green Revolution    364
  • 36    The World's Rising Food Productivity    376
  • 37    Recent Trends in Food Availability and Nutritional Well-Being    394
  • 38    Trends in Grain Stocks    405
  • 39    Trends in Food from the Sea    411
  • 40    Trends in Soil Erosion and Farmland Quality    416
  • 41    Water, Water Everywhere But Not a Drop to Sell    425
  • 42    Trends in Land Use in the United States    434
  Pt. V    Pollution and the Environment    443
  • 43    Long-Run Trends in Environmental Quality    444
  • 44    Atmospheric Pollution Trends in the United Kingdom    476
  • 45    Trends in Air Pollution in the United States    491
  • 46    Comparative Trends in Resource Use and Pollution in Market and Socialist Economies    503
  • 47    Acid Rain    523
  • 48    Stratospheric Ozone: Science and Policy    536
  • 49    The Greenhouse Effect and Global Change: Review and Reappraisal    544
  • 50    Greenhouse Scenarios to Inform Decision Makers    565
  • 51    The Hazards of Nuclear Power    576
  • 52    Pesticides, Cancer, and Misconceptions    588
  • 53    The Carcinogen or Toxin of the Week Phenomenon: The Facts Behind the Scares    595
  Pt. VI    Thinking about the Issues    609
  • 54    American Public Opinion: Environment and Energy    610
  • 55    Public Opinion About, and Media Coverage of, Population Growth    619
  • 56    Risk Within Reason    628
  • 57    Natural Ecology Today and in the Future: A Personal View    637
  Pt. VII    Conclusion: From the Past to the Future    641
  • 58    What Does the Future Hold? The Forecast in a Nutshell    642
  • List of Figures    661
  • List of Tables    671
  • List of Contributors    673
  • Index    677