Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses

Edited by the acknowledged masters of environmental history, Christof Mauch and Christian Pfister, this absorbing collection enriches our understanding of how humans at different times and in different places have dealt with disasters. The unexpected and dramatic hazards of life on earthearthquakes, floods, drought, frost and fireshave brought real suffering, death, famine, and disease to rich and poor, rural and urban alike. However, as the expert contributors to this book demonstrate so persuasively from historical case studies around the world, they have also produced particular situations that have generated innovative socio-political, technological and economic coping strategies. This is an informative and thought-provoking book, not only for its wealth of information and enormous contribution to the growing field of disaster history, but it is a timely publication for an era in which human beings, perhaps more than at any other period in history, feel vulnerable in the face of growing anthropogenic catastrophe. -- Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa An intriguing collection of essays that examine environmental history through the lens of natural disasters that have occurred around the world... informative...absorbing to read and ponder... highly recommended. * History In Review, April 2009 * This well-done collection broadens and deepens our understanding of the history of disasters considerably.... The book is an important stepping stone in the globalization of environmental history. * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, Winter 2009 * Floods, famines, earthquakes, and other disasters have wrought havoc throughout history. This book presents studies ranging from Finland to the Philippines, and from medieval times until today, to show the diversity of human responses to terrible catastrophes. Everyone interested in the uneasy relationship between nature and culture will want to read this book. -- J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University

Christof Mauch is Chair in North American History and Transatlantic Relations at the Amerika-Institut of Munich University. Christian Pfister is a professor in the Department of Economic, Social, and Environmental History at the Institute of History, University of Bern.

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Learning from Nature-induced Disasters: Theoretical Considerations and Case Studies from Western Europe Chapter 3 2. Disaster and Political Culture in Germany Since 1500 Chapter 4 3. Summer Frost: A Natural Hazard with Fatal Consequences in Preindustrial Finland Chapter 5 4. Society and Natural Risks in France, 1500-2000: Changing Historical Perspectives Chapter 6 5. Humanitarianism and Colonialism: Religious Responses to the Algerian Drought and Famine of 18661870 Chapter 7 6. The Floods of Baghdad: Cultural and Technological Responses Chapter 8 7. Interpreting Earthquakes in Medieval Islamic Texts Chapter 9 8. Famine in Bengal: A Comparison of the 1770 Famine in Bengal and the 1897 Famine in Chotanagpur Chapter 10 9. "Heaven-Sent" Disasters in Late-Imperial China: The Scope of the State and Beyond Chapter 11 10. Cultures of Disaster, Cultures of Coping: Hazard as a Frequent Life Experience in the Philippines Chapter 12 11. The Parana River Floods during the Spanish-Colonial Period: Impact and Responses Chapter 13 12. Documenting Disaster: Archival Investigations of Climate, Crisis, and Catastrophe in Colonial Mexico Chapter 14 13. American Disasters during the Twentieth Century: The Case of New Jersey Chapter 15 Afterword