Customer Reviews

Volatile Places: A Sociology of Communities and Environmental Controversies

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Many books in sociology (or indeed any of the sciences) are deliberately written in a passive voice. With the authors minimising any personal passionate viewpoints (or at least the depiction of these). For fear of not offering an objective stance. There are good reasons for this.

Yet here, one of the coauthors, Gunter, writes quite topically about (some of) her personal experiences when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. She was teaching at a local university. She uses her experiences to illustrate various points in the book. Like a community (or individuals) having trust in government agencies during times of disaster. The US federal response (via FEMA) is used as a pungent case study of inadequacy. Perhaps "betrayal", which is part of a chapter's title, is too strong a word? (Though surely not to some people.)

Of course, this very topicality will markedly date the book in a few years. But even these, it might still be usefully read, as providing a contemporaneous reaction to disaster.