Klappentext " . . . Penna and Rivers couple delightful exposition, insightful comparative images, and historical anecdotes that together produce some of the finest science writing I've seen. This book not only could be an outstanding text for a course on the subject, but it also would be a fine read for anyone interested in how the earth 'works.'" - Donald Siegel, Syracuse University "This is an impressive collection, wide ranging in time, place and discipline. The result stimulates new thinking both about history and about the ongoing role of catastrophe in the course of human society -- altogether, an imaginative venture." - Peter Stearns, George Mason University "Eco-anxiety sometimes makes us exaggerate our power over nature for good and ill. In an important, welcome and riveting collaboration between history and science, Penna and Rivers unfold a minatory drama of disasters - seismic, climatic, pandemic, atmospheric, meteoric - that humans can barely influence, let alone control." - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame "This skillful record of natural disaster--in climate, epidemics, and earth tremors--shows how society risks further disaster even in planning for safety." - Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh ". . . [A]n indispensable introduction for everyone who wants to understand human response to disaster--scientists, disaster planners, historians, and policy-makers, students and senior researchers." - Conevery Bolton Valencius, University of Massachusetts Boston Natural Disasters in a Global Environment is a trans-national, global and environmental history of natural and man-made disasters. In order to provide students with the clearest and most powerful accounts of each disaster, the authors employ detailed case studies of past and present events; each case study is written as a historical narrative while making use of the most recent scholarship surrounding these cases. Personal narratives, which appear throughout the text, fully engage students in an appreciation of the complexity - and devastation - of these events.Natural Disasters in a Global Environment is a transnational, global and environmental history of natural and man-made disasters. Detailed case studies of past and present events are presented in a historical narrative, making use of the most recent scholarship....

Autorentext

Anthony N. Penna is Professor Emeritus at Northeastern University. He is the author of Nature's Bounty: Historical and Modern Environmental Perspectives (1999), Remaking Boston: An Environmental History of the City and Its Surroundings (co-edited with Conrad Edick Wright, 2009), and The Human Footprint: A Global Environmental History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). Jennifer S. Rivers is Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies program at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University in Earth Science and has over thirty published articles in the field of Environmental Science.

Zusammenfassung
Natural Disasters in a Global Environment is a transnational, global and environmental history of natural and man-made disasters. Detailed case studies of past and present events are presented in a historical narrative, making use of the most recent scholarship.

Inhalt

DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 01 SUPER VOLCANOES Toba Super-Volcano -- 73,000 BP Santorini Super-Volcano 1600 BCE Mt. Tambora 1815 and Krakatoa 1883 Mt Pinatubo- 1991 CHAPTER 02 EARTHQUAKES San Francisco Earthquake 1906 Great Kanto Earthquake (Japan) 1923 Haitian Earthquake 2010 CHAPTER 03 TSUNAMIS Lisbon Tsunami 1755 Lituya Bay, Alaska Tsunami 1958 Sumatra-Andaman Tsunami 2004 Japanese Tohoku Tsunami 2011 CHAPTER 04 FIRE Great Roman Fire 68 CE London Fire 1666 Chicago Fire 1871 Peshtigo Fire 1871 CHAPTER 05 FLOODS Chinese Floods 1931 The Netherlands Floods 1953 Bangladesh Floods 1987 CHAPTER 06 LANDSLIDES Turtle Mountain, Alberta Landslide 1903 Aberfan Landslide 1966 Ancash Peru Landslide 1970 Leyte Island, Philippines Landslide 2006 CHAPTER 07 PANDEMIC DISEASES Bubonic Plague 1347-1351 and after Great Influenza Pandemic 1918 AIDS 1985- CHAPTER 08 HURICANES, CYCLONES AND TYPHOONS Florida Keys Hurricane 1935 Bangladesh Bhola Cyclone 1971 Chinese Typhoon Nina 1975 CHAPTER 09 DROUGHTS AND FAMINES Irish Famine 1851 "Dust Bowl" Drought in the American West 1935 Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine 1959 CHAPTER 10 METEORITES Chicxulub (Yucatan) Meteorite 65 Mya Tunguska (Siberia) Meteorite 1908 Future Impacts 2013 and beyond