Social impact of disasters Books

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Book Synopsis“This debut novel traces a group of survivors who fall under the spell of an authoritarian cult leader in the days following Hurricane Maria’s destruction in Puerto Rico. It is deeply imagined and deeply felt - imagistic and strange and haunting - and simmering with grief and rage.”  -- Gabriela Garcia, New York Times bestselling authorSet in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Xavier Navarro Aquino’s unforgettable debut novel follows a remarkable group of survivors searching for hope on an island torn apart by both natural disaster and human violence.Camila is haunted by the death of her sister, Marisol, who was caught by a mudslide during the huracán. Unable to part with Marisol, Camila carries her through town, past the churchyard, and, eventually, to the supposed utopia of Memoria. Urayoán, the idealistic, yet troubled cult leader of Memoria, has a vision for this new societ

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Book SynopsisFrom one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak.On January 25, 2020, after the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary. In the days and weeks that followed, Fang Fang’s nightly postings gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus. A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan’s nine million residents. But, by claiming the writers duty to record she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it.As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, we are able to identify patterns and mistakes that many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus have later repeated. She reminds us that, in the face of the new virus, the plight of the citizens of Wuhan is also that of citizens everywhere. As Fang Fang writes: “The virus is the common enemy of humankind; that is a lesson for all humanity. The only way we can conquer this virus and free ourselves from its grip is for all members of humankind to work together.” Blending the intimate and the epic, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of an extraordinary time. Translated from the Chinese by Michael Berry

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Book SynopsisShared Risk is an unparalleled study of how communities at risk respond to major hazards. This book explores the elastic boundary between structure and flexibility that enables modern organizations to function effectively under uncertain, dynamic conditions. It shows how communities and organizations cope with dynamic and unpredicted events.Trade ReviewGene Rochlin, University of California, USA This is a unique project that combines a wealth of informative, in-depth fieldwork with a highly original approach. The author's research on and analysis of responses to recent earthquakes is unparalleled in the existing literature. L. Douglas Kiel, University of Texas at Dallas, USA An excellent and accessible application of the sciences of complexity to the challenges of shared risk. Douglas Paton, Massey University, New Zealand ...this book provides an innovative and comprehensive analysis of a highly complex topic...text contents provide a practical tool for emergency planning for seismic crisis. The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma StudiesTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgements. List of tables. List of figures. Part I: Shared Risk in Theory: Context, Concept and Methods of Analysis. Shared risk and self-organizing processes. Models of transition in complex, dynamic environments. Measuring change in nonlinear social systems. The 'Edge of Chaos': creative response in dynamic environments. Part II: Shared Risk in Practice: The Evolution of Response Systems. Nonadaptive systems: San Salvador, Ecuador and Armenia. Emergent adaptive systems: Mexico City, Costa Rica, and Erzincan, Turkey. Operative adaptive systems: Whittier Narrows, California; Loma Prieta, California; and Maharashtra, India. Auto-adaptive systems: self organization or dysfunction in Northridge, California and Hanshin, Japan. Part III: Future Strategies: Managing Risk in Complex, Adaptive Systems. Adaptation to disaster: evolving response systems. Sociotechnical systems and the reduction of global risk. Bibliography. Appendices. Index.

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Table of ContentsForeword PART 1: MITIGATION FRAMEWORK Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter 2 – Mitigation Rules and Regulations Chapter 3 – The Role of Governments in Hazard MitigationChapter 4 – Mitigation in Private Sector PART 2: RISK ASSESSMENTS Chapter 5 – Hazard Identification - Natural Hazards Chapter 6 – Hazard Identification - Man-made HazardsChapter 7 – Vulnerability Assessment and Impact AnalysisChapter 8 – Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) PART 3: MITIGATION STRATEGIES, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Chapter 9 – Mitigation Strategies for Natural Hazards Chapter 10 – Mitigation Strategies for Man-made Hazards Chapter 11 – Mitigation Tools Chapter 12 – Mitigation Best Practices and Resources Epilogue – Tying it All Together

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2018**WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE BOOK PRIZE 2019*''As moving as it is painstakingly researched. . . a cracking read'' Viv Groskop, Observer''A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic'' Hannah Betts, Daily TelegraphOn 26 April 1986 at 1.23am a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine exploded. While the authorities scrambled to understand what was occurring, workers, engineers, firefighters and those living in the area were abandoned to their fate. The blast put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, contaminating over half of Europe with radioactive fallout.In Chernobyl, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy draws on recently opened archives to recreate these events in all their drama. A moment by moment account of the heroes, perpetrators and victims of a trTrade ReviewAn insightful and important book, that often reads like a good thriller, and that exposes the danger of mixing powerful technology with irresponsible politics -- Yuval Noah Harari, author of SapiensAs moving as it is painstakingly researched, this book is a tour de force and a cracking read. . . Without losing any detail or nuance, Plokhy has a knack for making complicated things simple while still profound -- Viv Groskop * Observer *A work of deep scholarship and powerful stroytelling. Plokhy is the master of the telling detail -- Victor Sebestyen * Sunday Times *A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath. . . Plokhy's well-paced narrative plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room -- Daniel Beer * Guardian *The first comprehensive history of the Chernobyl disaster. . . here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves -- Julie McDowall * The Times *Plokhy, a Harvard professor of Ukrainian background, is ideally placed to tell the harrowing story of Chernobyl. . . he has an immense knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history and maintains the highest standards of scholarship -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *A meticulous account of the disaster - and how the Soviet authorities tried to cover it up. . . A worthy winner of this year's Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction -- Robbie Millen * The Times Books of the Year *A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic -- Hannah Betts * Daily Telegraph *A masterful retelling. . . Mr Plokhy's book will endure as a definitive history * Economist *

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Book Synopsis''Remarkable . . . grips with the force of a thriller'' Robert Macfarlane''The most brilliant and essential book on Chernobyl since that of Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich'' Irish Times** National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2019 **The official death toll of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, ''the worst nuclear disaster in history'', is only 54, and stories today commonly suggest that nature is thriving there. Yet award-winning historian Kate Brown uncovers a much more disturbing story, one in which radioactive isotopes caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, and the magnitude of the disaster has been actively suppressed.For years after, Soviet scientists, bureaucrats and civilians were documenting staggering increases in birth defects, child mortality, cancers and other life-altering diseases. Worried that this evidence would blow the lid on the effects of radiation release from Cold War weapons-testing, scientTrade ReviewA magisterial blend of historical research, investigative journalism and poetic reportage, Kate Brown sets out to uncover Chernobyl's true medical and environmental effects . . . an awe-inspiring journey. * The Economist *This thrilling, frightening book tells the truth about the Chernobyl disaster . . . the most brilliant and essential book on Chernobyl since that of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich. * The Irish Times *An astonishing unconventional history. * The Times *Brown's page-turner skilfully weaves an original narrative on the long-term medical effects of the Chernobyl disaster... Her capacity to immerse herself and pick up on nuances brings these stories from factory workers, technicians, doctors and villagers alive. * Nature *Exemplary ... Brown is an indomitable researcher -- Luke Harding * Observer *Full of passion . . . [an] admirable uncovering of the hidden story behind Chernobyl. * The Guardian *Vital work, making a convincing case for the catastrophic long-term medical and ecological effects of the disaster -- Tobie Mathew * Literary Review *A troubling book, passionately written and deeply researched ... the book moves from science to thriller and realm of conspiracy... there is no doubt about Brown's gift for vivid narrative. Her conclusion is chilling. * The Sunday Times *A humane book about the irreversible things a technological disaster does to people and landscapes. * Owen Hatherley, New Statesman, 'Best Books of 2019' *A magnificent monograph that stands out among the multiple books on Chernobyl simply because it tells us the truth - the whole unadulterated truth - about one of the worst disasters in history. As such, it may itself be regarded as a survival manual of sorts. And a guide to the future, too. * Engineering and Technology *Help[s] us comprehend, both emotionally and rationally, a disaster so great that future scholars will detect it thousands years from now, whether they have written accounts of it or not. * The Evening Standard *Kate Brown [...] shows that there are still many ways to tell this story, and that the lessons of Chernobyl remain unresolved ... Brown argues persuasively that [researchers] are grossly underestimating the scale of the damage. * The New York Review *Manual For Survival is a remarkable book, distinguished by Kate Brown's rare combination of skills: formidable archival history, investigative research, and vivid storytelling. There are parts of this book that grip with the force of a thriller - but again and again, the plot is proved true. A decade's work has gone into uncovering the real human cost of Chernobyl. This is a book about even bigger subjects than the disaster at its core, however: about how politics processes disaster, about the unseen legacies of the 'friendly atom', and about the Anthropocene futures faced by the human species, surviving in an epoch of ruin.This deftly written, impassioned, courageous book should make the world think twice about what's at stake when we unleash nuclear reactions.Kate Brown presents a convincing challenge to the official narrative of the Chernobyl disaster. Deeply reported and elegantly written, "Manual for Survival" is chilling.Combining the skills of a historian, investigative reporter, and detective Kate Brown has blown the lid off the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and decades of official efforts to suppress its grim truths. Disturbing in its conclusions, destined to incite controversy, Manual for Survival is first-rate historical sleuthing.Gripping . . . Kate Brown's relentless, tenacious reporting shows that Chernobyl isn't the past at all. Nothing, she makes clear, can stop its radiation from seeping through all attempts to bury the truth, for a long time to come. This deftly written, impassioned, courageous book should make the world think twice about what's at stake when we unleash nuclear reactions.This engagingly written book reads like a cold war thriller and uncovers the devastating effects of one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

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Book Synopsis''Magisterial ... Immensely readable'' Douglas Alexander, Financial Times''Insightful, productively provocative and downright brilliant'' New York Times A compelling history of catastrophes and their consequences, from ''the most brilliant British historian of his generation'' (The Times) Disasters are inherently hard to predict. But when catastrophe strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why? While populist rulers certainly performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics and network science, Trade ReviewMagisterial reach ... immensely readable ... Ferguson [applies] his prodigious intellect to placing the present pandemic on a wider historic canvas. -- Douglas Alexander * Financial Times *This is not just about a virus but a collision of politics, panic, digital media, human behaviour and incompetence. Niall Ferguson's Doom looks at each of these aspects, putting them into historical perspective in a book of dazzling range and rigour. -- Fraser Nelson * The Spectator *Niall Ferguson's Doom is often insightful, productively provocative and downright brilliant. * New York Times *A superb history of the lost art of handling a crisis. * The Telegraph *Stimulating ... Each chapter of this thought-provoking book is worth reading for the ideas, perceptiveness and well-told stories of landmark events ... It's a useful reminder that what may feel like having unprecedented restrictions imposed on our lives today is nothing new... readers will find much to relish. -- Martin Bentham * Evening Standard *Elegant, pacey, gripping ... a wealth of deep research. * The Economist *Doom covers an impressive sweep of history at a lively narrative clip and weaves a lot of disparate strands together into an engaging picture. -- Rafael Behr * The Guardian *Timely and refreshing ... An informative, amusing and thought-provoking read that is full of steadying good sense for these troubled times. -- Peter Neville-Hadley * South China Morning Post *Performs a crucial public service ... Doom is far more than just a page-turner, though that it certainly is: it's that most precious of things in a history book - an account of the past that truly helps us understand where we are today. -- Ryan Bourne * CapX *

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Book SynopsisOne of our most celebrated historians shows how we can use the lessons of the past to build a new post-covid society in BritainThe ''duty of care'' which the state owes to its citizens is a phrase much used, but what has it actually meant in Britain historically? And what should it mean in the future, once the immediate Covid crisis has passed?In A Duty of Care, Peter Hennessy divides post-war British history into BC (before covid) and AC (after covid). He looks back to Sir William Beveridge''s classic identification of the ''five giants'' against which society had to battle - want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness - and laid the foundations for the modern welfare state in his wartime report. He examines the steady assault on the giants by successive post-war governments and asks what the comparable giants are now. He lays out the ''road to 2045'' with ''a new Beveridge'' to build a consensus for post-covid Britain with the ambition and on the sTrade ReviewPeter Hennessy is a historian and a dreamer ... Here is the vision of a kinder Britain, shared by the creators of the welfare state in the first postwar years ... Hennessy's book is a recital of reflections upon a long and often brilliant career as a social and political observer ... He sees huge challenges ahead in social care, social housing, climate change, artificial intelligence, technical education and the fragility of the Union, which present policies are quite inadequate to address. ... At the heart of the author's thesis is his contention that the British people during the pandemic have shown themselves to be much better than their rulers; that we must find means to mobilise our true national spirit through a nobler politics ... His enthusiasm and, yes, virtue shine through its pages, together with his rage towards those who fail us in the "duty of care" of his title. It is an inspirational work. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *deeply thoughtful ... the book is testament to Hennessy's own deep humanity as well as his expertise in the history of Britain since 1945, the era of the post-war consensus, about which he writes with such conviction. It is a valuable and exceptionally well-reasoned guide to how we might turn round a country battered not by war, as in 1945, but by a wave of disease unknown in living memory. -- Simon Heffer * Sunday Telegraph *Peter Hennessy's A Duty of Care is a call from the deep for civility, compromise and cooperation. Coming from one of our most distinguished political historians, it can hardly be ignored. But A Duty of Care is much more than just an appeal for a politics of sanity and mutual respect. It is also, no less importantly, and more interestingly, a Confucian appeal for a politics of benevolence. -- Oliver Letwin * The Tablet *Part history, part manifesto ... The warmth and wisdom of Hennessy's book, peppered with personal reflection and marked by his deeply held commitment to a society of equals, is inspiring. -- Nick Pearce * Financial Times *The detailed prescriptions for a better future advanced in this book deserve to be read by anyone actively engaged in politics today. Nobody knows more about the world of high politics in the United Kingdom than Peter Hennessy. -- Richard Evans * Times Literary Supplement *Peter Hennessy understands just how Britain ticks. ... In this latest short, but compelling, book he brings all that knowledge and sense of perspective to a remarkable analysis -- Lord Cormack * The House Magazine *In A Duty of Care, Peter Hennessy draws a link between the history of the postwar welfare state and the post-pandemic case for a new settlement ... Admirably concise, it is proof that a strong political case does not require hundreds of pages to make its point. -- Robert Shrimsley * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY''Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen'' Kai BirdBest-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . .In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe.As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.Trade ReviewA timely and enthralling study of the atomic age and its perils . . . a meticulously researched history -- Lawrence Freedman * Financial Times *A superbly crafted but enormously frightening history of nuclear disasters . . . without ever preaching, Plokhy constructs a formidable case for consigning nuclear power to the past -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Plokhy's gripping, measured accounts of human error and staggering heroism in the face of the terrifying forces of nuclear power get under the skin -- Simon Ings * The Telegraph *Frightening . . . With catastrophic climate change bearing down on us, nuclear power has been promoted by some as an obvious solution, but this sobering history urges us to look hard at that bargain for what it is -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *A revealing tour of some of the most terrifying experiences involving nuclear power. Plokhy excels in unpacking the human and systemic factors that contribute to nuclear disasters * Nature *Gripping . . . Plokhy combines newspaper interviews, memoirs, government reports and secondary sources to give a vivid account of the perils of nuclear power * TLS *Expertly concise. . . this account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating -- Robin McKie * Observer *Absolutely stunning. A formidable achievement. Plokhy has written a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen. We have survived the Nuclear Age for three-quarters of a century, but this book calmly reminds us that accidents happen?and will surely happen again. His stories of nuclear accidents are riveting and frightening -- Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus

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Book Synopsis''A virtuoso feat ... a book of panoramic breadth'' New York Times Book Review''A devastating analysis ... Wright is a master of knitting together complex narratives'' The ObserverJust as Lawrence Wright''s The Looming Tower became the defining account of our century''s first devastating event, 9/11, so The Plague Year will become the defining account of the second.The story starts with the initial moments of Covid''s appearance in Wuhan and ends with Joseph Biden''s inauguration in an America ravaged by well over 400,000 deaths - a mortality already some ten times worse than US combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War.This is an anguished, furious memorial to a year in which all of America''s great strengths - its scientific knowledge, its great civic and intellectual institutions, its spirit of voluntarism and community - were brought low, not by a terrifying new illness alone, but by political incompeTrade ReviewA devastating analysis ... Wright is a master of knitting together complex narratives ... A story about hubris and division, complacency and insularity, but most of all precariousness. -- Andrew Anthony * The Observer *In his characteristically rigorous and engrossing style, Wright documents innumerable episodes of ineptitude and malfeasance ... Maddening and sobering - as comprehensive an account of the first year of the pandemic as we've yet seen. * Kirkus *Wright explains political mistakes and scientific breakthroughs, but The Plague Year has a more intimate register, too, in its record of how the virus upended everyday lives. The most heartbreaking moments are those that juxtapose ordinary people falling ill with the incompetence, negligence or politicking of the Trump White House ... The Plague Year suggests it was even worse than we remembered or realised at the time. -- Emily Tamkin * New Statesman *A virtuoso feat ... [Wright has] given us a book of panoramic breadth, [ranging] from science to politics to economics to culture with a commanding scrutiny, managing to surprise us about even those episodes we have only recently lived through and thought we knew well. The story he tells is immediate and often piercingly intimate ... Wright's storytelling dexterity makes all this come alive. -- Sonali Deraniyagala * New York Times Book Review *In his characteristic style, Mr Wright provides many small sketches of people touched by Covid-19 - from whizzy scientists like Barney Graham to victims like 96-year-old Jim Miller, a D-Day veteran who died of the disease in a cruelly mismanaged home for old soldiers. But the book's main character is Mr Trump, and its main service is in weighing his responsibility for the disaster. * The Economist *Arresting, lean-limbed, immersive ... Rich with peerless reportage and incisive critique ... Translates the complexities of epidemiology into plain English ... Wright is at his commanding best. -- Hamilton Cain * Minneapolis Star Tribune *Insightful ... Indispensable as a coronavirus compendium. Very little escapes Wright's notice, and he is adept at placing the ongoing story in an enlightening context. -- Michael King * Austin Chronicle *Taut, thriller-like, The Plague Year captures the chaos and courage of this unprecedented era that's forever changed us. * Oprah Daily *By far the best book yet on COVID-19 ... [An] exemplary chronicle [with] countless examples of hope, sacrifice, and heroic feats. Wright's interviews with experts in virology, economics, public health, history, politics, and medicine are enlightening ... Wright is at his finest here in frontline research, expert analysis, and lucid writing. -- Tony Miksanek * Booklist *[An] incredibly-crafted telling ... [Wright] is an earnest prober, with sober-minded curiosity ... [He] provides a well-wrought map covering the institutions and politicians that failed America during this stretch of the pandemic [and] crucially highlights those that also saved us - the first responders and the reasonable. -- Eric Allen Been * The Boston Globe *

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Book SynopsisDuring the Cultural Revolution the piano, the musical embodiment of Western culture, became the object of intense hostility. This book examines the evolution of China's ever-changing disposition towards European music and Western influences generally.Trade Review'deserves to become a classic ... masterful and engrossing book' Gary Zabel, Musical Times

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Book SynopsisWhen news of the Darfur famine in the ''80s broke in the West, relief experts predicted that, without massive food aid, millions of people would starve to death. Food aid on this scale did not arrive, but millions did not starve to death. Analyzing the famine from the perspective of the rural people in the region who suffered it, Alex de Waal uncovers a number of new and important insights into the dynamics of famine and famine relief. The author argues that deaths during the famine were not due to starvation, but instead were caused by disease, which ensued in the aftermath of the social disruption caused by the famine. In addition, the priority for rural people during the crisis was not to try to save every possible life, but to preserve their way of life for the future. Consequently, he concludes, the huge international relief effort was largely irrelevant to their survival. De Waal''s findings have profound implications, not just for famine relief, but for our very conception of ''Trade Review...an interesting new preface in which he comments on events in the region since the early 1980s...a useful case study of the dynamics of famine. * Foreign Affairs *

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Book SynopsisCatastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.Trade Review...fascinating, disturbing. * Short Book Reviews, Publication of the International Statistical Institute *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION ; 1. WHAT ARE THE CATASTROHPIC RISKS, AND HOW CATASTROPHIC ARE THEY? ; 2. WHY SO LITTLE IS BEING DONE ABOUT THE CATASTROPHIC RISKS ; 3. HOW TO EVALUATE THE CATASTROPHIC RISKS AND THE POSSIBLE RESPONSES TO THEM ; 4. HOW TO REDUCE THE CATASTROPHIC RISKS ; CONCLUSION

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Book SynopsisDisasters are difficult to manage for many reasons: the immediacy of the event, magnitude of the event, lack of evidence-based practices, and the limited usefulness of many developed protocols. Consequently, combining academic approaches with realistic and practical recommendations continues to be an underdeveloped aspect of disaster texts. The Oxford American Handbook of Disaster Medicine offers a functional blend of science with pragmatism. Approached from a real-world perspective, the handbook is a portable guide that provides sufficient scientific background to facilitate broader application and problem solving yet approach the topic in a prioritized fashion, supporting rapid understanding and utilization. Contributing authors are clinical and public health providers with disaster experience. This book encompasses the entire scope of disaster medicine from general concepts and fundamental principles to both manmade and natural threats.Table of ContentsPart 1: Introduction ; 1 Definition of a Disaster ; 2 All-Hazards Approach ; 3 The Disaster Cycle: An Overview of Disaster Phases ; 4 Mitigation Phase of Disasters ; 5 Preparedness Phase of Disasters ; 6 Response Phase of Disasters ; 7 Recovery Phase of Disasters ; Part 2: General Concepts ; Components of Disaster Response ; 8 Local Level Disaster Response ; 9 State Level Disaster Response ; 10 Federal Disaster Response ; 11 Military Disaster Response ; 12 Emergency Management in Disasters ; 13 Emergency Medical Services ; 14 Public Health in Disasters ; 15 International Disaster Response ; 16 Complex Humanitarian Emergencies ; Hospital Components of Disaster Re-sponse ; 17 Hospital Administration Disaster Response ; 18 Hospital Ancillary Services Disaster Response ; 19 Hospital Medical Staff Disaster Response ; 20 Hospital Nursing Disaster Response ; Part 3: Pre-Disaster Considera-tions ; 21 Disaster Length: An Overview ; 22 Short Term Events (Hours) ; 23 Long Term Events (Days) ; 24 Extended Events (Weeks to Months) ; 25 Hazard Vulnerability Analysis ; 26 Drills and Evaluation ; Part 4: Fundamental Principles of Disaster Management ; 27 Communications ; 28 Decontamination ; 29 Evacuation ; 30 Force Health Protection ; 31 Incident Command System ; 32 Mass Sheltering ; 33 The National Response Framework ; 34 Pediatric Concerns ; 35 Personal Protective Equipment ; 36 Regional Mass Care ; 37 Provider Mental Health ; 38 Disaster Triage ; 39 Vulnerable Populations ; Part 5: Special Considerations in Disaster Management ; 40 Research in Disaster and Triage Settings ; 41 Disaster Training and Education ; 42 Medical Ethics in Disasters ; 43 Politics and Disasters ; 44 Rural Approaches ; 45 Urban Approaches ; 46 Terrorism ; 47 Risks and Variations of an Aerosolized Bioter-ror Attack ; 48 Public Media Relations ; 49 Ultrasound in Disaster Medicine ; 50 Disaster Informatics ; 51 Palliative Care in Disaster Medicine ; 52 Legal Aspects of Disaster Medicine ; Part 6: Specific Hazards in Disasters ; Human Caused Disasters ; 53 Man Made Threats: An Overview ; Biological Disasters ; 54 Anthrax ; 55 Botulism ; 56 Plague ; 57 Smallpox ; 58 Tularemia ; 59 Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers ; 60 Other Biological Agents ; Chemical Disasters ; 61 Asphyxiants ; 62 Blister Agents ; 63 Organophosphates/Nerve Gases ; 64 Cyanide and Other Chemical Agents ; 65 Pulmonary Agents ; 66 Riot Control Agents ; 67 Explosives ; 68 Mass Shootings ; 69 Nuclear Terrorism ; 70 Radiological Terrorism ; Mechanical and Structural Disasters ; Land ; 71 Automobile Disasters ; 72 Bus Disasters ; 73 Fires ; 74 Rail Disasters ; 75 Subway Disasters ; Air and Sea ; 76 Aviation Disasters ; 77 Helicopter Disasters ; 78 Ship Disasters ; Natural Disasters ; 79 Natural Disasters: An Overview ; 80 Avalanche ; 81 Cold Weather ; 82 Earthquakes ; 83 Flooding ; 84 Heat Wave ; 85 Hurricanes ; 86 Landslides and Mudslides ; 87 Lightening Strikes ; 88 Influenza Pandemic ; 89 Tornadoes ; 90 Tsunami ; 91 Volcanic Eruption ; Part 7: Post Disaster Consid-erations ; 92 Survivor Mental Health ; 93 Displaced Populations ; 94 Lessons Learned ; 95 International Disaster Response Organizations ; 96 Future Humanitarian Crises ; Index ; Index

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Book SynopsisNeil Brenner has in the past few years made a major impact on the ways in which we understand the changing political geographies of the modern state. Simultaneously analyzing the restructuring of urban governance and the transformation of national states under globalizing capitalism, ''New State Spaces'' is a mature and sophisticated analysis of broad interdisciplinary interest, making this a highly significant contribution to the subject.Trade ReviewThis book demonstrates Neil Brenner as a leading scholar of political geography; it thus represents a synopsis of his work through the past decade and helps the reader to get a hold on a difficult and sometimes flimsy debate. The book and its arguments around the rescaling of governmental spaces can only be strongly recommended. Neil Brenner has written a book that is difficult to ignore for all with an interest not only in current debate on government restructuring, but also for all who follow the ongoing discussion on the construction of a new Europe - a Europe of New state spaces. * Geografiska Annaler, 88B *Honourable Mention * Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award 2005, Political Sociology Section, American Sociological Association *For a long time, analysts of capitalism laid out their explanations as if space did not matter. Radical geographers, city planners, and students of popular politics then began complaining about the neglect of space, and setting concrete studies of urban change in the context of abstractly framed geographic theories. Neil Brenner takes the whole discussion a step farther, bringing together a knowledgeable critique and synthesis of previous thinking about 'state spaces,' important new ideas about regional policy under today's capitalism, and deeply documented comparisons of European regions. Students of political processes have much to learn from this book. * Charles Tilly, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University *Neil Brenner brings together the cutting edges of the new economic and political geographies to produce a creatively transdisciplinary geopolitical economy of the territorial state and the re-scaling of the contemporary world. This is critically spatialized social science at its best: astutely comprehensive in its theoretical scope, pointedly insightful in its assessment of European planning practices, and richly empirical in its argument and analysis. The scales of accomplishment are enormous. * Edward W. Soja, Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research *Brenner brilliantly traces how urban governance has become one of the strategic sites for fundamental transformations of national statehood. The book takes us to analytic zones we did not know existed. Great and original. * Saskia Sassen, Author, Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization. *'intellectually rich and challenging. Brenner seamlessly moves between major intellectual traditions, confidently borrowing and recombining arguments and perspectives. The claims are sophisticated and certain to recast debates about the role of cities in the era of globalization. * Contemporary Sociology, 35.1, January 2006 *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Introduction: Cities, States, and the 'Explosion of Spaces' ; 2. The Globalization Debates: Opening up to New Spaces? ; 3. The State Spatial Process under Capitalism: A Framework for Analysis ; 4. Urban Governance and the Nationalization of State Space: Political Geographies of Spatial Keynesianism ; 5. Interlocality Competition as a State Project: Urban Locational Policy and the Rescaling of State Space ; 6. Alternative Rescaling Strategies and the Future of New State Spaces ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive analysis of the world of open air marketplaces of West Africa. Clark studies the market women of Kumasi, Ghana, in order to understand the key social forces that generate, maintain, and continually reshape shifting market dynamics.

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Book SynopsisThis text examines actual attempts to prepare for catastrophes and finds that the policies adopted by corporations and government agencies are fundamentally rhetorical: the plans have no chance to succeed, yet they serve both the organizations and the public as symbols of control and stability.

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Book SynopsisIn a cemetery on the southern outskirts of Paris lie the bodies of nearly a hundred of what some have called the first casualties of global climate change. This book tells the stories of these victims and the catastrophe that took their lives. It explores the multiple narratives of disaster-the official story of the crisis and its aftermath.Trade Review"Fatal Isolation is a riveting account of the social, cultural, and political forces that made France so vulnerable during the historic 2003 heat wave and a cautionary tale about the dangers of urban life on an overheated planet. Along the way, Keller takes up deep and unsettling questions about what we can and cannot know about the recent past. It's a memorable, haunting book." (Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago)

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Book SynopsisTracing the way various public policies have evolved, David L. Kirp, Mark G. Yudof, and Marlene Strong Franks find that the profusion of legislation and court decisions masks an uncertain and problematic sense of what gender-based justice means. They show that even policies not ostensibly concerned with genderfrom tax codes to health benefitshave a significant effect on sexual equality. They argue that whether or not it intends to do so, our government is setting gender policies. Pointing out that individual autonomy is the essential component of a just society, they endorse a policy that encourages choice rather than one that promotes particular outcomes.

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Book SynopsisExplains how maps can tell where to anticipate certain hazards, but also how maps can be misleading. The text considers that although it is important to predict and prepare for catastrophic natural hazards, more subtle and persistent phenomena such as pollution and crime also pose serious dangers.

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Book SynopsisDespite the devastation caused by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 60-foot tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, some 96% of those living and working in the most disaster-stricken region of Tohoku made it through. Smaller earthquakes and tsunamis have killed far more people in nearby China and India. What accounts for the exceptionally high survival rate? And why is it that some towns and cities in the Tohoku region have built back more quickly than others? Black Wave illuminates two critical factors that had a direct influence on why survival rates varied so much across the Tohoku region following the 3/11 disasters and why the rebuilding process has also not moved in lockstep across the region. Individuals and communities with stronger networks and better governance, Daniel P. Aldrich shows, had higher survival rates and accelerated recoveries. Less connected communities with fewer such ties faced harder recovery processes and lower survival rates. Beyond the individual and neighborhoodTrade Review"Much has written about the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident that struck Japan in 2011. But few scholars can combine a deep knowledge of Japanese politics and society and a deep knowledge of contemporary research on the social response to natural and technological hazards. Aldrich is one such scholar, and this book sets the standard for scholarship in this field. The striking finding--that recovery among different communities in the most stricken areas of Japan was uneven--is likely to be of great interest to students of disasters, of technological hazards, and of contemporary Japanese politics."--Thomas A. Birkland North Carolina State University "Three disasters--an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown--struck Japan on 3/11, generating one of the greatest catastrophes in recent history. In Black Wave, Aldrich asks a series of essential questions: How did so many people survive? Why did some places fare so much better than others? What does it mean to be resilient in a world of emerging risks? His findings are surprising and important. Everyone interested in disaster--or, really, survival--should read this excellent book."--Eric Klinenberg, New York University, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Much has written about the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident that struck Japan in 2011. But few scholars can combine a deep knowledge of Japanese politics and society and a deep knowledge of contemporary research on the social response to natural and technological hazards. Aldrich is one such scholar, and this book sets the standard for scholarship in this field. The striking finding--that recovery among different communities in the most stricken areas of Japan was uneven--is likely to be of great interest to students of disasters, of technological hazards, and of contemporary Japanese politics."--Thomas A. Birkland, North Carolina State University "Three disasters--an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown--struck Japan on 3/11, generating one of the greatest catastrophes in recent history. In Black Wave, Aldrich asks a series of essential questions: How did so many people survive? Why did some places fare so much better than others? What does it mean to be resilient in a world of emerging risks? His findings are surprising and important. Everyone interested in disaster--or, really, survival--should read this excellent book."--Eric Klinenberg, New York University, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago

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Book SynopsisStalin’s collectivization of Soviet Russia’s agriculture resulted in the deaths of at least ten million people through starvation and associated diseases between 1928 and 1934. Hungry and Starving explores primary accounts of the Great Soviet Famine on the part of both its perpetrators and its sufferers.Trade Review“Impressively researched, this book sets itself apart from most other studies in the English-language historiography of the famines. It is a story told mainly through the human voices of the famine years. A major contribution to the literature, it is poised to spark new debate.” John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta and author of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Holocaust: OUN and UPA's Participation in the Destruction of Ukrainian Jewry, 1941–1944

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Book SynopsisThe news media has become a key arena for staging environmental conflicts. Through a range of illuminating examples ranging from climate change to oil spills, Media, Environment and the Network Society provides a timely and far-reaching analysis of the media politics of contemporary environmental debates.Trade Review'Media, Environment and the Network Society is a much-needed rethinking by one of the field's leading scholars of many of our assumptions about media and environmental activism. Anderson's conceptually-smart analysis takes us well beyond activists' quest for access or visibility to the rapidly changing and complex terrain of global media politics including digital media in a networked world.' - Robert Cox, Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'A skilful guide through the rapidly-changing media landscape in which environment communication now takes place and through the new scholarship that has accompanied it. Anderson writes with the clarity of a good journalist and the rigour of a good academic.' - James Painter, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, UK 'Anderson expertly navigates the complex terrain of media, environment, politics and power. As one of the founders of this academic field, she provides a nuanced and rich account of how environmental issues are constructed and contested across a range of media platforms and social actors, including NGOs, businesses, citizens and celebrities. In placing emphasis on the power dynamics of online and offline media and activism in particular, Anderson lends us critical insight into the contemporary formations of the mediatised politics of the environment.' - Julie Doyle, Media and Communication Studies, University of Brighton, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Environmental Risks, Protest and the Network Society 3. News Agendas, Framing Contests and Power 4. The Climate Change Controversy 5. Oils Spills and Crisis Communication 6. Emerging Technologies 7. Future Directions Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. This work presents and account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its policies on the country's economic future.Trade ReviewA rigorous study. -- Anna Fifield Financial Times This book belongs on the list of required reading. -- Claudia Rosett New York Sun This is a haunting, exasperating, sobering look at an ongoing tragedy. -- Terry Hong The Bloomsbury Review The quality of analysis and prose is consistently high throughout. -- Brian Myers Acta Koreana A comprehensive and penetrating account. Swarthmore College Bulletin A readable, well-researched, and insightful analysis... Highly recommended. Choice Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform offers a systematic bird's eye view of the fundamental causes and consequences of North Korea's famine. -- Chung Min Lee Asia Policy Backed by data treated with appropriate caution, Haggard and Noland cogently present the sad North Korean story... [An] impressive work. The Lancet Famine in North Korea is as good as the best of its genre. -- Raghav Gaiha Development and Change [An] essential book. -- Stephen Devereux Journal of Economic Literature This book will be of interest to those in the Korean studies field as well as among humanitarian and public policy circles -- Suzy Kim The Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Foreword, by Amartya Sen Preface 1. Introduction: Famine, Aid, and Markets in North Korea Part I. Perspectives on the famine 2. The Origins of the Great Famine 3. The Distribution of Misery: Famine and the Breakdown of the Public Distribution System Part II. The Dilemmas of Humanitarian Assistance 4. The Aid Regime: The Problem of Monitoring 5. Diversion 6. The Political Economy of Aid Part III: Dealing with a Changing North Korea 7. Coping, Marketization, and Reform: New Sources of Vulnerability 8. Conclusion: North Korea in Comparative and International Perspective Appendix 1: Illicit Activities Appendix 2: The Scope of the Humanitarian Aid Effort Appendix 3: The Marketization Balance Sheet Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA rigorous study. -- Anna Fifield Financial Times This book belongs on the list of required reading. -- Claudia Rosett New York Sun This is a haunting, exasperating, sobering look at an ongoing tragedy. -- Terry Hong The Bloomsbury Review The quality of analysis and prose is consistently high throughout. -- Brian Myers Acta Koreana A comprehensive and penetrating account. Swarthmore College Bulletin A readable, well-researched, and insightful analysis... Highly recommended. Choice Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform offers a systematic bird's eye view of the fundamental causes and consequences of North Korea's famine. -- Chung Min Lee Asia Policy Backed by data treated with appropriate caution, Haggard and Noland cogently present the sad North Korean story... [An] impressive work. The Lancet Famine in North Korea is as good as the best of its genre. -- Raghav Gaiha Development and Change [An] essential book. -- Stephen Devereux Journal of Economic Literature This book will be of interest to those in the Korean studies field as well as among humanitarian and public policy circles -- Suzy Kim The Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Foreword, by Amartya Sen Preface 1. Introduction: Famine, Aid, and Markets in North Korea Part I. Perspectives on the famine 2. The Origins of the Great Famine 3. The Distribution of Misery: Famine and the Breakdown of the Public Distribution System Part II. The Dilemmas of Humanitarian Assistance 4. The Aid Regime: The Problem of Monitoring 5. Diversion 6. The Political Economy of Aid Part III: Dealing with a Changing North Korea 7. Coping, Marketization, and Reform: New Sources of Vulnerability 8. Conclusion: North Korea in Comparative and International Perspective Appendix 1: Illicit Activities Appendix 2: The Scope of the Humanitarian Aid Effort Appendix 3: The Marketization Balance Sheet Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisOn March 28, 1979, the worst nuclear reactor accident in U.S. history occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant. In this innovative study, Natasha Zaretsky uses the near-meltdown to shed new light on the era’s political realignments. Radiation Nation uncovers the surprising bodily and ecological dimensions of post-Vietnam conservatism.Trade ReviewThis is an epic book, speaking to grand stakes. Centered on Three Mile Island, it is actually a chronicle of postwar America, touching on everything from atomic-age anxieties, to declining faith in expertise, to the long-grindng pessimism of the 'anthropocene.' It is, in short, brilliant, among the best works of history I have read in years. -- Jeremy Varon, the New SchoolTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsPrefaceIntroduction1. The Culture of Dissociation and the Rise of the Unborn2. The Accident and the Political Transformation of the 1970s3. Creating a Community of Fate at Three Mile Island4. The Second Cold War and the Extinction ThreatConclusionNotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Future as Catastrophe offers a novel critique of the fascination with disaster. Analyzing the catastrophic imaginary from its historical roots to the contemporary popularity of disaster fiction and end-of-the-world blockbusters, Eva Horn argues that apocalypse always haunts the modern idea of a future that can be anticipated and planned.Trade ReviewThe end of the world and the extinction of the human species will be a catastrophe without event, survivor, or witness. Eva Horn's brilliant and copiously informed historical study explores the potential of 'future fictions' as epistemic tools to anticipate the unknowable—to imagine it by giving it shape, investing it with meaning and affect and thereby making it 'real.' -- Aleida Assmann, author of Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, ArchivesWho would ever have imagined that a book about catastrophes could be informative, entertaining, and helpful? In this magnificent volume, Eva Horn has achieved this trifecta. As a bonus, the book is erudite and paints a picture of thinking about disaster as a strident criticism of modernity’s blind faith in human progress. Read it! -- John Casti, author of X-Events: Complexity Overload and the Collapse of Everything'Why do we imagine ourselves as Last Men​?' Eva Horn's imaginative, incisive, and wide-ranging exploration of this arresting question doubles up an arresting genealogy of the modern fear of the future as catastrophe. An illuminating read, not only for students of modernity but also those pondering the looming crisis of climate change. -- Dipesh Chakrabarty, author of The Calling of History: Sir Jadunath Sarkar and His Empire of TruthTacking between the fictional and the real, Horn provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of why we are such avid consumers of dystopian disasters and what these not-so-artificial scenarios mean for our ability to contend with these portentous events. The Future as Catastrophe examines the content, sources, history, and function that the catastrophic has for politics, knowledge, and the human capacity to imagine its own destruction. -- Anson Rabinbach, author of In the Shadow of Catastrophe: German Intellectuals Between Apocalypse and EnlightenmentWith the notion of the 'Anthropocene,' we have learned to think, in an entirely secular and scientific way, the end times of human life on the planet. With breathtaking erudition and in stunning and precise prose, Eva Horn guides us through the ways in which the natural and social sciences, economic and political theory, and above all literature and popular culture, have, over the last two centuries, sought to rehearse scenarios of the end and its aftermath. As Horn also shows, the future perfect tense of catastrophe—all this will have been—serves as a remarkable diagnostic lens for the revelation—the 'apocalypse'—of the present tense of catastrophic ways of living. -- Eric L. Santner, author of The Royal Remains: The People's Two Bodies and the Endgames of SovereigntyThe Future as Catastrophe is theoretically rich and its arguments are bolstered by the sheer breadth oftexts with which it engages...a valuable contribution to environmental studies. -- Jason Ludwig, Cornell University * H-Environment *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Last Men2. Catastrophe Without Event: Imagining Climate Disaster3. Survival: The Biopolitics of Catastrophe4. The Future of Things: Accidents and Technical Safety5. The Paradoxes of PredictionConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExamining twenty years of disasters from 9/11 to COVID-19, Jeff Schlegelmilch and Ellen Carlin show how flawed incentive structures make the world more vulnerable when catastrophe strikes.Trade ReviewAt this critical crossroads in human history, Schlegelmilch and Carlin expose the cracks in how we prepare and respond to disasters and call on us to develop and execute strategies for achieving a more sustainable and resilient future. -- Shay Bahramirad, senior vice president of Engineering, Asset Management, and Capital Program, LUMA Energy, and president-elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power and Energy SocietyThis critical analysis offers fresh insight into the ways that the very structures we rely on to keep us safe from disasters are falling short. In exploring disincentives for readiness within and among sectors and the vulnerabilities they enable, the authors also provide a path forward and a reason to believe that a more resilient future is possible. -- Tom Daschle, commissioner, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and former Senate majority leaderA critical examination of recent events and our capacity to prepare and respond to them. With this work, the authors review the key drivers of disaster infrastructure, and the incentives that sustain them. As we reflect on the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and observe the landscape ahead, this book is a valuable resource. -- Nicolette Louissaint, senior vice president of policy, Healthcare Distribution AllianceThis is a true ‘must read’ for anyone interested in how we’ve managed large-scale disasters since the 9/11 attacks. Chronicling the evolution of key policies and protocols while still being an accessible and compelling story, it is an essential guide for professionals, students, and anyone interested in the safety and security of our world in the years to come. -- Irwin Redlener, MD, founding director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia UniversityThis book is an essential read to better understand why different sectors respond the way they do, and how that sets the stage for our own preparedness planning for surviving disasters. -- Les Stroud, survival expert and award-winning filmmaker and producerTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAcronyms and AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I. A Recent History of Disasters: Events, Trends and Organizational Responses1. The Birth of the Modern Era of U.S. Disaster Management and Its Global Implications (2001)2. A Pandemic Warning, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, and a Bird Flu (2002–2007)3. An Influenza Pandemic, Earthquake in Haiti, Fukushima Disaster, and Superstorm Sandy (2008–2012)4. Ebola, Hurricanes, Wildfires, and a Pandemic for the Ages (2013–2021)Part II. How Organizations Respond to Disasters and Why They Behave That Way5. Disaster Politics6. Disaster Markets and the Private Sector7. Disaster Nonprofits8. Disaster AcademicsPart III. In Search of Disaster Resilience9. Humans Are Bad at Risk, and Even Worse with Uncertainty10. Reimagining the ModelNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSince the end of the Cold War, the world has been shaken to its core three times. 11 September 2001, the financial collapse of 2008 and - most of all - Covid-19. Each was an asymmetric threat, set in motion by something seemingly small, and different from anything the world had experienced before. Lenin is supposed to have said, 'There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen.' This is one of those times when history has sped up. In this urgent and timely book, Fareed Zakaria, one of the 'top ten global thinkers of the last decade' (Foreign Policy), foresees the nature of a post-pandemic world: the political, social, technological and economic consequences that may take years to unfold. In ten surprising, hopeful 'lessons', he writes about the acceleration of natural and biological risks, the obsolescence of the old political categories of right and left, the rise of 'digital life', the future of globalization and an emerging world order split between the United S

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Book Synopsis''A virtuoso feat ... a book of panoramic breadth'' New York Times Book Review''A devastating analysis ... Wright is a master of knitting together complex narratives'' The ObserverJust as Lawrence Wright''s The Looming Tower became the defining account of our century''s first devastating event, 9/11, so The Plague Year will become the defining account of the second. The story starts with the initial moments of Covid''s appearance in Wuhan and ends with Joseph Biden''s inauguration in an America ravaged by well over 400,000 deaths - a mortality already some ten times worse than US combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War.This is an anguished, furious memorial to a year in which all of America''s great strengths - its scientific knowledge, its great civic and intellectual institutions, its spirit of voluntarism and community - were brought low, not by a terrifying new illness alone, but by political incomp

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the modern business classic The Smartest Guys in the Room comes a damning indictment of late-stage capitalism-and the leaders that were brutally unprepared for a global pandemic.In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that governments across the world could not adequately protect their citizens. Millions of people suffered and died in just two years, while administrations around the globe blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs from the collapse of trade; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by - and worse, even profiting from - the worst healthcare crisis to hit humanity in decades.In this page-turning economic, political and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McClean and Joseph Nocera analyse the American response to the pandemic as a case study, to offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp reporting and deep sourcing, they investigate what really

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Women of the Storm pulls back the analytical curtain on one of the most unusual post-Katrina political movements. Drawing on firsthand observations and in-depth interviews, David reveals how privileged white New Orleans women used their philanthropic and volunteer skills to create a genuinely interracial alliance that could effectively pressure members of Congress to invest in the city’s and the whole coastal region’s revival. Here is a book for anyone doing intersectional digging into gendered social movements, congressional lobbying, or postdisaster politics.”—Cynthia Enloe, author of Seriously! Investigating Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered"It is a book about storm recovery but, more important, about the personalities that helped move that effort forward. David offers the reader sound sociological explanations about the collective actions of WOS, but in the end, he gives readers a tale of perseverance and love of community." --The Journal of Southern History"Useful for anyone interested in studying gender, groups, disasters, politics, or social movements." --The Southern Register"This unique contribution to the literature should allow Women of the Storm to attract the attention of researchers, teachers, and community groups of all sorts. It models dedicated, reflexive fieldwork and provides analyses that are empirically grounded yet theoretically rich. David's excellent book should be included on the bookshelf of every scholar of disaster, gender, elites, and social movements."--Antipode"For readers in gender studies, disaster studies and the sociology of the environment, the book generates a substantial contribution to the study of social class and women's activism in recovery from the long-term effects of Katrina." --Journal of Gender Studies"A well-written and informative read. . . . Civic activists and scholars of gender and social movements alike will find this text to be a valuable addition to their reading lists." --Gender & Society"Although social theory clearly guides David's research process and analysis, the book's writing style foregrounds narrative, character development and voices of WOS women. . . . An easy and enjoyable reading experience." --Contemporary Sociology"Women of the Storm is an important 'studying up' investigation of privileged women in post-Katrina New Orleans. It offers a rare, in-depth look at the volunteer political labor of elite women. Engaging and well written, David focuses on micro-level processes and presents careful descriptions of events and dialogue to illuminate issues of power, inequality, diversity, gender, social class, and politics. Women of the Storm is a truly valuable addition to the field of gender and disaster."—Alice Fothergill, coauthor of Children of Katrina "This fascinating book describes a courageous group of elite women who took the risk to bridge race and class divides, stand together, and take collective political actions that were fundamental to the recovery of New Orleans. David captures their hopes and deliberations, intelligence and limitations, and joie de vivre with candor and compassion—a beautiful achievement."—Rebecca E. Snedeker, coauthor of Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas “The book’s unique focus centers on the well-orchestrated activities of an elite group of women as they defined and acted upon their roles as community leaders to invite, entice, and cajole national leaders to see for themselves the block-by-block evidence of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. It makes a substantial contribution to the study of social class and women’s activism while raising important questions about inclusion and exclusion, and how a community represents itself.”—Beth Willinger, coeditor of Newcomb College, 1886-2006: Higher Education for Women in New Orleans

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Women of the Storm pulls back the analytical curtain on one of the most unusual post-Katrina political movements. Drawing on firsthand observations and in-depth interviews, David reveals how privileged white New Orleans women used their philanthropic and volunteer skills to create a genuinely interracial alliance that could effectively pressure members of Congress to invest in the city’s and the whole coastal region’s revival. Here is a book for anyone doing intersectional digging into gendered social movements, congressional lobbying, or postdisaster politics.”—Cynthia Enloe, author of Seriously! Investigating Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered"It is a book about storm recovery but, more important, about the personalities that helped move that effort forward. David offers the reader sound sociological explanations about the collective actions of WOS, but in the end, he gives readers a tale of perseverance and love of community." --The Journal of Southern History"Useful for anyone interested in studying gender, groups, disasters, politics, or social movements." --The Southern Register"This unique contribution to the literature should allow Women of the Storm to attract the attention of researchers, teachers, and community groups of all sorts. It models dedicated, reflexive fieldwork and provides analyses that are empirically grounded yet theoretically rich. David's excellent book should be included on the bookshelf of every scholar of disaster, gender, elites, and social movements."--Antipode"For readers in gender studies, disaster studies and the sociology of the environment, the book generates a substantial contribution to the study of social class and women's activism in recovery from the long-term effects of Katrina." --Journal of Gender Studies"A well-written and informative read. . . . Civic activists and scholars of gender and social movements alike will find this text to be a valuable addition to their reading lists." --Gender & Society"Although social theory clearly guides David's research process and analysis, the book's writing style foregrounds narrative, character development and voices of WOS women. . . . An easy and enjoyable reading experience." --Contemporary Sociology"Women of the Storm is an important 'studying up' investigation of privileged women in post-Katrina New Orleans. It offers a rare, in-depth look at the volunteer political labor of elite women. Engaging and well written, David focuses on micro-level processes and presents careful descriptions of events and dialogue to illuminate issues of power, inequality, diversity, gender, social class, and politics. Women of the Storm is a truly valuable addition to the field of gender and disaster."—Alice Fothergill, coauthor of Children of Katrina "This fascinating book describes a courageous group of elite women who took the risk to bridge race and class divides, stand together, and take collective political actions that were fundamental to the recovery of New Orleans. David captures their hopes and deliberations, intelligence and limitations, and joie de vivre with candor and compassion—a beautiful achievement."—Rebecca E. Snedeker, coauthor of Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas “The book’s unique focus centers on the well-orchestrated activities of an elite group of women as they defined and acted upon their roles as community leaders to invite, entice, and cajole national leaders to see for themselves the block-by-block evidence of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. It makes a substantial contribution to the study of social class and women’s activism while raising important questions about inclusion and exclusion, and how a community represents itself.”—Beth Willinger, coeditor of Newcomb College, 1886-2006: Higher Education for Women in New Orleans

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