American Disasters: 201 Calamities that Shook the Nation
- ISBN-10
- 0816077355
- ISBN-13
- 9780816077359
- Pages
- 461
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008
- Publisher
- Checkmark Books
- Author
- Ballard C. Campbell
Description
A compelling exploration of more than 200 events that have devastated our country.
From the "starving time" at Jamestown, the smallpox epidemic during the Revolutionary War, and the "year without a summer" in 1816 to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the San Francisco earthquake, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, disasters and crises have profoundly shaped American history. These catastrophic events have not only upended people's lives and wreaked untold havoc, they have often transformed society and demarcated one era from another. They have also spurred the nation to action and ignited vast social change.
Encompassing a broad array of events-hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, epidemics, riots, assassinations, rebellions, shipwrecks, collisions, plagues, depressions, explosions, tornadoes, blizzards, poisonings, scandals, bombings, bridge collapses, dam failures, environmental calamities, and others-this volume covers 201 of the most significant calamities and crises in American history. Each chapter focuses on one major catastrophe, examining its cause, initial moment, the sensation of living through it, the immediate and long-range response, and its lasting impact and enduring legacy. Vividly capturing the most haunting and traumatic moments in our nation's past, American Disasters provides a thrilling and informative account of U.S. history.
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