Acts of god

Steinberg T.

With the exception of the 9/11 disaster, the top ten most costly catastrophes in U.S. history have all been natural disasters – five of them hurricanes – and all have occurred since 1989. Why this tremendous plague on our homes?In Acts of God, environmental historian Ted Steinberg explains that much of the death and destruction has been well within the realm of human control. Steinberg exposes the fallacy of seeing such calamities as simply random events. Beginning with the 1886 Charleston and 1906 San Franciscoearthquakes, and continuing to the present, Steinberg explores the unnatural history of natural calamity, the decisions of business leaders and government officials that have paved the way for the greater losses of life and property, especially among those least able to withstand suchblows – America’s poor, elderly, and minorities. Seeing nature or God as the primary culprit, Steinberg argues, has helped to hide the fact that some Americans are better protected from the violence of nature than their counterparts lower down the socioeconomic ladder. Sure to provoke discussion,Acts of God is a call to action that must be heard.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Dedication……Page 5
Contents……Page 9
Preface……Page 11
Introduction……Page 15
I – Return of the Suppressed……Page 25
1 – Last Call for Judgement day……Page 27
2 – Disaster as Archetype……Page 49
3 – Do-it-yourself Deathscape……Page 71
Interlude – Body Counting……Page 93
II – Federalizing Risk……Page 101
4 – Building for Apocalypse……Page 103
5 – Uncle Same – Floodplain Recidivist……Page 121
Interlude – The Perils of Private Property……Page 141
III – Containing Calamity……Page 149
6 – The Neurotic Life of Weather Control……Page 151
7 – Forecasting at the Fair Weather Service……Page 173
8 – Who Pays?……Page 197
Epilogue – Remembering McKinneysburg……Page 221
Notes……Page 227
Bibliography……Page 289
Index……Page 305