A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters [Paperback]

Civilization rearranges nature for human convenience. Clothes and houses keep us warm; agriculture feeds us; medicine fights our diseases. It all worksmost of the time. But key resources lie in the most hazardous places, so we choose to live on river flood plains, on the slopes of volcanoes, at the edge of the sea, above seismic faults. We pack ourselves into cities, Petri dishes for germs. Civilization thrives on the edge of disaster. ? And what happens when natural forces meet molasses holding tanks, insecticides, deepwater oil rigs, nuclear power plants? We learn the hard way how to avoid the last disasterand maybe how to create the next one. What we dont know can, indeed, hurt us. ? This books white-knuckled journey from antiquity to the present leads us to wonder at times how humankind has survived. And yet, as Author Gale Eaton makes clear, civilization has advanced not just in spite of disasters but in part because of them. Hats off to human resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance! Theyve carried us this far; may they continue to do so into our ever-hazardous future. The History in 50 series explores history by telling thematically linked stories. Each book includes 50 illustrated narrative accounts of people and eventssome well-known, others often overlookedthat, together, build a rich connect the-dots mosaic and challenge conventional assumptions about how history unfolds.Lest readers get preoccupied by body counts anddeciding which disaster was the worst, the real lessons to be derived arediscussed in a brief conclusion. What's most important is how people respondedto the disasters: some people became heroes, some organized relief efforts,some looted, some blamed others, and some got to work trying to prevent futuredisasters. ... A fascinating volumeespecially suited for browsing. (glossary, sources and additional resources,endnotes, index)The earth shakes and cracksopen. Volcanoes erupt. Continents freeze, bake, and flood. Droughts parch theland.ls›