Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America

ISBN-10: 075678915X
ISBN-13: 9780756789152
Series: Acts of God
Pages: 294
Language: English
Published: 2005-04-01
Author: Ted Steinberg

Description

Much of the death & destruction caused by natural disasters in the U.S. has been within the realm of human control. Exposes the fallacy of seeing such calamities as simply random events. Beginning with the 1886 Charleston & 1906 San Francisco earthquakes, & continuing to the year 2000, Steinberg explores the unnatural history of natural calamity, the decisions of bus. leaders & gov't. officials that have paved the way for the greater losses of life & property, esp. among those not able to withstand such blows -- America's poor, elderly, & minorities. Seeing nature or God as the primary culprit 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. Ill.