302 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 34 halftones, 1 graph, notes, bibl., index, rough castoff: 115,000 words, 360 manuscript pages
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-7932-7
Published: February 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-5251-1
Published: November 2019
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-5252-8
Published: September 2019
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-5853-5
Published: September 2019
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Beginning with the collapse of the early seventeenth-century Jamestown colony, ending with the deadly Johnstown flood of 1889, and highlighting fires, epidemics, earthquakes, and exploding steamboats along the way, Cynthia A. Kierner tells horrific stories of culturally significant calamities and their victims and charts efforts to explain, prevent, and relieve disaster-related losses. Although how we interpret and respond to disasters has changed in some ways since the nineteenth century, Kierner demonstrates that, for better or worse, the intellectual, economic, and political environments of earlier eras forged our own twenty-first-century approach to disaster, shaping the stories we tell, the precautions we ponder, and the remedies we prescribe for disaster-ravaged communities.
About the Author
Cynthia A. Kierner is professor of history at George Mason University and the author of Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello.
For more information about Cynthia A. Kierner, visit the Author Page.
"Kierner presents an in-depth, well-researched and persuasive thesis for the beginning and eventual continuation of a cultural mind-set that has remained fairly intact since the 19th-century."--Library Journal
"[A] spectacular volume.... clearly and convincingly argued, grounded in extensive research in a host of records, and extremely well-written with both a scholarly and a broader audience in mind.... Here is an opportunity to help scholars and students understand our own times more profoundly by examining earlier catastrophes."—William and Mary Quarterly
"Presents a complex and fascinating argument. . . . Meticulously researched and annotated, Inventing Disaster offers detailed descriptions of disasters, provides context, and documents community and public responses."--The New England Quarterly
"Kierner offers a clear and cogent analysis of the ways that societies across three centuries of British Atlantic and early US history conceptualized, came to terms with, and then responded to large-scale, sudden, and unexpected loss. Inventing Disaster deserves space on the shelves not merely of historians interested in the niche topic of disaster but of anyone interested in the development during these three centuries of print culture, religion, science, moral philosophy, technology, or government."--H-Net Reviews
"While Kierner is often able to provide fascinating insights by covering topics, such as shipwrecks, that are rarely explored, she is also more than able to provide similar insights when considering events that have been written about more extensively.... Inventing Disaster provides a very effective and vital summation of the development of the primarily American culture of disaster."—Journal of Southern History
“Well-conceived and engaging . . . Kierner uncovers the historical roots of disaster relief and explains how our modern response to disaster reflects a centuries-long tussle with the forces of modernity. All this and more make Inventing Disaster a valuable and, indeed, timely title.”--North Carolina Historical Review
"Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka: ""Kumbuka:"" Ingawa jinsi tunavyoelewa na kukabiliana na misiba imebadilika kwa njia fulani tangu karne ya 19, Kierner anaonyesha kwamba, kwa bora au mbaya, mazingira ya kiakili, kiuchumi na kisiasa ya enzi za awali yaliunda mbinu yetu ya karne ya ishirini na moja ya kukabiliana na misiba, kuunda hadithi tunazozungumza, tahadhari tunazozingatia, na tiba tunazopendekeza kwa jamii zilizoharibiwa na misiba. "Cynthia A. Kierner, profesa wa historia katika Chuo Kikuu cha George Mason, ni mwandishi wa kitabu ""Martha Jefferson Randolph, binti ya Monticello.""" Kwa habari zaidi kuhusu Cynthia A. Kierner, tembelea Ukurasa wa Mwandishi. "Kierner anatoa thesis ya kina, utafiti vizuri na kushawishi kwa mwanzo na mwishoni mwendelezo wa mawazo ya kitamaduni ambayo imebaki kabisa tangu karne ya 19.""" --Library Journal "[A] kiasi cha kuvutia.... wazi na kwa kusadikisha alidai, msingi katika utafiti wa kina katika idadi ya rekodi, na sana vizuri imeandikwa na wote wasomi na wasikilizaji pana katika akili.... Hapa kuna fursa ya kuwasaidia wasomi na wanafunzi kuelewa nyakati zetu wenyewe kwa undani zaidi kwa kuchunguza majanga ya zamani. "William na Mary Quarterly" inatoa hoja tata na ya kuvutia. . . . Kitabu hicho, kilichochunguza na kueleza kwa uangalifu, kinatoa maelezo ya kina kuhusu misiba, kinatoa muktadha, na kinarekodi jinsi jamii na watu wanavyoitikia. "Kierner anatoa uchambuzi wa wazi na wenye kusadikisha wa njia ambazo jamii katika karne tatu za historia ya Atlantiki ya Uingereza na mapema ya Marekani zilikuwa na wazo, zilikuja na masharti, na kisha zikijibu kwa hasara kubwa, ya ghafla, na isiyotazamiwa. """ "Kutengeneza Msiba inastahili nafasi kwenye rafu, si tu ya wanahistoria wanaopendezwa na mada ya niche ya msiba, lakini ya mtu yeyote anayependezwa na maendeleo katika karne hizi tatu za utamaduni wa kuchapisha, dini, sayansi, falsafa ya maadili, teknolojia, au serikali. """ "Kierner, ambaye ni mwandishi wa vitabu vya hadithi, anasema: ""Wakati Kierner ni mara nyingi uwezo wa kutoa ufahamu wa kuvutia kwa kufunika mada, kama vile meli kuanguka, ambayo ni mara chache kuchunguzwa, yeye pia ni zaidi ya uwezo wa kutoa ufahamu sawa wakati wa kuzingatia matukio ambayo yameandikwa kuhusu zaidi." "Jarida la Historia ya Kusini <unk>Lilopangwa vizuri na lenye kuvutia. . . Kierner anafunua mizizi ya kihistoria ya misaada ya maafa na anaelezea jinsi majibu yetu ya kisasa kwa maafa yanaonyesha mapambano ya karne nyingi na nguvu za kisasa. Yote haya na mengi zaidi hufanya Inventing Disaster kuwa kichwa chenye thamani na, kwa kweli, cha wakati unaofaa. <unk> - North Carolina Historical Review