Abstract
Degroot argues that the climate changes of the Little Ice Age “certainly presented challenges for Dutch citizens, but they also offered opportunities that merchants, sailors, soldiers, and inventors aggressively exploited” (5). While he discusses painting and notes the prevalence of ice and snow landscapes (not exactly an original observation), the strength of his interpretation lies in his broader sense of culture that encompasses technological innovations, such as more sophisticated fire-fighting equipment and improved forms of ice breaking. [...]Degroot argues that climate changes “helped shape the social spaces and discourses in which inventors conceived and applied their technologies” (298).