The Winds Of History

Everyone knows the wind’s touch, its presence, its force. Sometimes it roars and howls, at other times we hear its wistful sighs and feel its soothing caresses. Since antiquity, humans have borne witness to the wind and relied on it to navigate the seas. And yet, despite its presence at the heart of human experience, the wind has evaded scrutiny in our chronicles of the past. In this brilliantly original volume, Alain Corbin sets out to illuminate the wind’s storied history. He shows how, before the nineteenth century, the noisy emptiness of wind was experienced and described only according to the sensations it provoked. Imagery of the wind featured prominently in literature, from the ancient Greek epics through the Renaissance and romanticism to the modern era, but little was known about where the wind came from and where it went. It was only in the late eighteenth century, with the discovery of the composition of air, that scientists began to understand the nature of wind and its trajectories. From that point on, our understanding of the wind was shaped by meteorology, which mapped the flows of winds and currents around the globe. But while science has enabled us to understand the wind and, in some respects, to harness it, the wind has lost nothing of its mysterious force. It still has the power to destroy, and in the wind’s ethereal presence we can still feel its connection with creation and death.

Introduction : defining Oceania -- Discovering the Oceanic past -- The Pacific islands as a human environment -- Sahul and the prehistory of "old" Melanesia -- Lapita and the Austronesian expansion -- The prehistory of "new" Melanesia -- Micronesia : in the "sea of little islands"--Polynesia : origins and dispersals -- Polynesian chiefdoms and archaic states -- Big structures and large processes in Oceanic prehistory

Messages from Heaven about the near Future of our World. By our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and our Mother of Salvation Holy Virgin Mary. Virgin Mary is God's Final Preacher. God is always trying to lead man away from self-destruction. He sends his preachers. He sends his teachers. But these are snuffed out. Their words are not listened to and their invitations are rejected. So, finally, he has sent me. I am his final teacher, his final prophet. I am his last opportunity to change the course of history. There is no one behind me, no other message, no other signs than the ones that I will give. When I tell the world that it must listen to me, I am not speaking from a selfish and arrogant spirit. I am speaking as one who sees the destruction, the hopelessness of mankind if my words are not heeded. The fourth of five books from 2011 until 2015.

Wind is everywhere and nowhere. Wind is the circulatory system of the earth, and its nervous system, too. Energy and information flow through it. It brings warmth and water, enriches and strips away the soil, aerates the globe. Wind shapes the lives of animals, humans among them. Trade follows the path of the wind, as empire also does. Wind made the difference in wars between the Greeks and Persians, the Mongols and the Japanese. Wind helped to destroy the Spanish Armada. And wind is no less determining of our inner lives: the föhn, mistral, sirocco, Santa Ana, and other “ill winds” of the world are correlated with disease, suicide, and even murder. Heaven’s Breath is an encyclopedic and enchanting book that opens dazzling new perspectives on history, nature, and humanity.