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About
Rethinking American Disasters is a pathbreaking collection of essays on hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and other calamities in the United States and British colonial America over four centuries. Proceeding from the premise that there is no such thing as a "natural" disaster, the collection invites readers to consider disasters and their aftermaths as artifacts of and vantage points onto their historical contexts.
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Reviews
"Examining the role of disasters in American history from the colonial period to the present, these well-conceived essays offer unique perspectives on a whole range of calamities. Above all, the authors provide a wise and sobering reminder that history often unfolds in unexpected ways."
Ted Steinberg, author of Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America
"This altogether superior collection of essays presents novel, wide-ranging and accessible analyses of particular disasters that vividly illustrate what a good lens disasters provide for illuminating some of the grand themes on American history."
Gareth Davies
"Fire, flood, drought, epidemic, and the rising of our oceans: the early twenty-first century is beset. This excellent collection meets the anxieties of the present with insights from our plagued past, showing how societal choices can deepen disasters or alleviate suffering. Essays span Caribbean and U.S. history, from colonial hurricanes to COVID-19, offering case studies that are as well-researc
Conevery Bolton Valencius, author of The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes