The Age of Catastrophe: Disaster and Humanity in Modern Times - Softcover

Ebert, John David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786471425 ISBN 13: 9780786471423

Publisher: McFarland, 2012

Synopsis

Disasters, both natural and man-made, are on the rise. Indeed, a catastrophe of one sort or another seems always to be unfolding somewhere on the planet. We have entered into a veritable Age of Catastrophes which have grown both larger and more complex and now routinely very widespread in scope. The old days of the geographically isolated industrial accidents, of the sinking of a Titanic or the explosion of a Hindenburg, together with their isolated causes and limited effects, are over. Now, disasters on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill or the Japan tsunami and nuclear reactor accident, threaten to engulf large swaths of civilization. This book analyzes the efforts of Westerners to keep the catastrophes outside, while maintaining order on the inside of society. These efforts are breaking down. Nature and Civilization have become so intertwined they can no longer be separated. Natural disasters, moreover, are becoming increasingly more difficult to differentiate from "man-made."

About this title

About the Author:

John David Ebert is the author of four previous books and has published essays in such periodicals as the Antioch Review, Utne Reader, Parabola, and Whole Earth. He has also been a featured scholar on A&E's Ancient Mysteries.

About this edition

• Publisher: McFarland
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0786471425
• ISBN 13: 9780786471423
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230