How credible is the theory that the General Crisis in the 17th century was actual a global one?

by tomtopc

I am referring to the theory put forward by Geoffrey Parker that the General Crisis was in fact a global one. He does this in his book the Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century.

I was wondering about this as I wrote an Epq on comparing Spain and China during this period, so I am curious to know if my essay if wrong or not.

[Link to Book](http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=S-xZv Zfcj0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Global+Crisis:+War,+Climate+Change+and+Catastrophe+in+the+Seventeenth+Century&ots=OIrxbWuBCk&sig=WJkqBcM50faohBGNTQCsTmf5VOs#v=onepage&q=Global%20Crisis%3A%20War%2C%20Climate%20Change%20and%20Catastrophe%20in%20the%20Seventeenth%20Century&f=false)

Sebatinsky

I'm not really engaged in the historiography of the 17th C crisis, so I can't really say. I do find Parker's book interesting though, because it seems to revive that discussion with an environmental slant. I had the impression that discussion about the 'general crisis' lost a lot of steam in recent decades. Parker seems to be making an interesting effort to revive it in light of the glut of good work in environmental history during that time.