J. R. McNeill facts for kids

John Robert McNeill (born October 6, 1954) is an American historian, writer, and professor at Georgetown University. He is famous for being one of the first people to study environmental history. This field looks at how humans and nature have affected each other throughout time. In 2000, he wrote a well-known book called Something New Under the Sun. In this book, he explains how human actions in the 1900s caused huge changes to our planet's environment. He says this happened mostly because we started using a lot of fossil fuels for energy.

Life and Career of J. R. McNeill

John Robert McNeill was born on October 6, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was also a famous historian named William H. McNeill. In 2003, John and his father wrote a book together called The Human Web: A Bird's-eye View of World History.

McNeill went to Swarthmore College and earned his first degree in 1975. Later, he studied at Duke University. There, he earned his master's degree in 1977 and his PhD in 1981.

In 1985, he became a professor at Georgetown University. He teaches in both the History Department and the Walsh School of Foreign Service. From 2003 to 2006, he held a special teaching position in Environmental History. In 2006, he became a University Professor.

McNeill has written 7 books and helped edit 17 others. He has received many important awards and fellowships. These include two Fulbright Awards, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a MacArthur Grant. He was also the president of the American Society for Environmental History from 2011 to 2013. In 2019, he served as the president of the American Historical Association.

J. R. McNeill's Research and Books

McNeill's main area of study is environmental history. He is known as a leader in this field.

Something New Under the Sun

In 2000, he published his most famous book, Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. This book explains that human activities in the 1900s caused environmental changes on a scale never seen before. He points out that before 1900, humans did change environments, but not as much as in the 20th century. McNeill believes that the huge environmental changes happened because of:

• Using a lot of fossil fuels
• A big increase in the world's population
• New technologies
• Pressures from international politics

People have praised his book for being fair and not overly emotional, which is often rare for books about the environment.

Mosquito Empires

In 2010, McNeill wrote Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620–1914. In this book, he suggests that changes in the environment, like growing more sugar plantations, led to more mosquito-borne diseases. These diseases include yellow fever and malaria. He argues that how people resisted these diseases affected the history of the Caribbean.

For example, he explains how Spain was able to protect its colonies in the Caribbean for a long time. He also shows why Spain, France, and Britain eventually lost their empires in the Americas during the revolutionary wars of the late 1700s and early 1800s. This book won several awards, including the Beveridge Prize.

The Great Acceleration and Other Works

In 2016, McNeill and Peter Engelke wrote The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene Since 1945. The "Great Acceleration" refers to the period after 1945. During this time, human impact on Earth's ecology greatly increased. This period is part of what some scientists call the "Anthropocene" – a proposed new geological age where humans are the main force shaping the planet.

McNeill also wrote a world history textbook called The Webs of Humankind in 2020. He is currently working on a book about the environmental history of the Industrial Revolution.

Awards and Honors

• 2001: World History Association Book Prize, for Something New Under The Sun
• 2001: Forest Society Book Prize, for Something New Under The Sun
• 2010: Toynbee Prize, for his important contributions to humanity
• 2010: AHA Beveridge Award, for Mosquito Empires
• 2010: Association of American Publishers PROSE award for European & World History, for Mosquito Empires
• 2014: World History Association, Pioneer in World History Award
• 2017: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2018: Dr A.H. Heineken Prize, from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2019: American Society for Environmental History, Distinguished Scholar Award
• 2021: Elected to the Academia Europaea