Disasters and History

The Vulnerability and Resilience of Past Societies

Bas van Bavel, Daniel R. Curtis, Jessica Dijkman, Matthew Hannaford, Maïka de Keyzer, Eline van Onacker, Tim Soens

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781108752152
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Disasters and History offers the first comprehensive historical overview of hazards and disasters. Drawing on a range of case studies, including the Black Death, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the Fukushima disaster, the authors examine how societies dealt with shocks and hazards and their potentially disastrous outcomes. They reveal the ways in which the consequences and outcomes of these disasters varied widely not only between societies but also within the same societies according to social groups, ethnicity and gender. They also demonstrate how studying past disasters, including earthquakes, droughts, floods and epidemics, can provide a lens through which to understand the social, economic and political functioning of past societies and reveal features of a society which may otherwise remain hidden from view. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: Disasters and History
• 2 Classifications and Concepts
• 3 History as a Laboratory: Materials and Methods
• 4 Disaster Preconditions and Pressures
• 5 Disaster Responses
• 6 Effects of Disasters
• 7 Past and Present
• References
• Index