The End is Nigh: A History of Natural Disasters

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. The South Asian Tsunami of 2004. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Hurricane Katrina in 2005. All of these are natural disasters that not only caused massive devastation but actually changed the course of history, and have influenced our reactions to and perspectives on disasters ever since.

Spanning two millennia, The End is Nigh provides a detailed history of natural disasters around the world and how they have shaped our cultural beliefs and our practical planning. Henrik Svensen draws from many eyewitness accounts to reveal the personal stories of the victims of natural disasters. Through them, we are reminded that while the disasters are natural phenomena, victims often react in similar ways seeking to explain the disaster within the context of an omen or a divine warning. A geologist, Svensen also explores the science behind the occurrence of specific disasters, and he examines whether climate change is creating an environment where natural disasters are more frequent and more deadly.

The End is Nigh is as instructive as it is insightful and will appeal to fans of history and science, as well as policy makers and all those seeking to better prepare for future calamities.

" The End is Nigh is a great example of storytelling across scientific disciplines, and in gripping prose it spans geology, geography and history, anthropology, sociology, and the history of religion."-- Apollon

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface: When Climate Becomes Disaster
• Introduction: On the Edge of the Sahara
• 1 Mythologies
• 2 The Day of the Dead
• 3 California: Earthquake and Culture
• 4 Natural Disasters in Metropolis
• 5 Among the High Mountains and Deep Fjords
• 6 Problem Children
• 7 The Politics of Disasters
• 8 Climatic Disasters
• 9 The Tsunami
• 10 Perilous Nature
• Epilogue: Where the Devil Lives in the Ground
• Major Natural Disasters
• References
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
• Photo Acknowledgments
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is an interesting book, especially for geologists, but to call it a "history of natural disasters" is a stretch. The End Is Nigh is actually an extended essay on the complex relationships among destructive Earth processes, religion, poverty, economics, politics, and popular culture. Svensen (Physics of Geological Processes Center, Univ. of Oslo, Norway) begins and ends with his account of subsurface peat fires in Mali, and in between discusses various natural disasters in history and how people have responded to them. His typical approach is to tell the story of some individual or group caught up in the events, and then sort through what has been learned and ignored since then. The writing style of this work can at best be called eclectic. Svensen moves forward and backward through time, and from narrowly focused stories (such as landslides in Norway) to broad accounts (climate change and its possible effects on disaster frequencies). This narrative jumping is often confusing. His forays into politics and religion are well-meaning but naive. The book's most important lesson is that natural disasters are deadliest to those people forced by economic and social circumstances to be the least prepared. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers. M. A. Wilson College of Wooster