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La Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelee, the Worst Volcanic Disaster of the 20th Century 1st Edition

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Alwyn Scarth (Author)
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4.3 out of 5 stars 10 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195218398
ISBN-10: 0195218396
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (June 22, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195218396
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195218398
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 0.7 x 6.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,467,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsDecent read - but beware of quality issues!
By I. J. J. Nieuwland on January 26, 2005
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Spurred on by Scarth's great 'Vulcan's Fury: Man against the Volcano' and my interest in the Pelée disaster of 1902, I purchased this book from Amazon. First of all, Scarth really knows his business and, just as importantly, he knows how to convey it to the audience. However, there are some stylistic aspects that I have trouble with, most of all Scarth's preference for drama, as witnessed in sentences of the '... but little did he know that in a few days...' variety. Already present in 'Vulcan's Fury', it tends to become very annoying in this book. The story doesn't need it, and neither does the book.

The second problem is something that is hardly Scarth's fault, but Amazon sent me a real monday morning copy: low-res images, smeared print, unreadable text, moiréd photographs, the works. I don't know whether this is a unique problem, but you might want to check out this title in a book store - at least be aware of possible quality issues.

All in all a worthwile book, but I'd go with Ernst Zabrowski's 'The last days of St. Pierre' any day. However, it needs to be said that both authors put their emphasis differently, with Zabrowski giving a detailed picture of the days leading up to the May 8 eruption, and Scarth devoting more attention to the events following the disaster.
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5.0 out of 5 starsOutstanding study of the 1902 disaster.
By mcsidious on August 5, 2003
Format: Hardcover
It seems there has been a lot of attention focused on the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee and its destruction of Saint-Pierre recently, and this book stands out as a wonderful account of the events surrounding it. Alwyn Scarth is an exceptionally literate writer and provides a very frank and objective analysis of the events before and after the eruption as well as copious detail on the eruption itself. His writing style is dry at times, but it is enhanced by the occasional wry humor and his portraits of the people of Martinique, especially those of Father Mary and the captain of the cruiser Suchet.
Scarth presents a great number of original documents from a variety of sources (sometimes providing photos of originals such as French naval telegrams), and provides as many eyewitness accounts as possible. Although the eruption of Pelee is the subject of the book, Scarth spends a comparable amount of time on the society of Saint-Pierre and Martinique, particularly the apartheid-based social structure and contentious politics of the colony. He also makes an admirable attempt to show that past accounts that accuse Governor Mouttet of forcing citizens to stay in Saint-Pierre to vote are groundless, and he recounts the political arrogance of the post-eruption administration.
Scarth also refutes several myths about the eruption, especially the belief that Louis-Auguste Sylbaris was the sole survivor and that 30,000 people or more were killed (the likely number is several thousand fewer). He presents Saint-Pierre as a busy and modern colonial city, but vehemently disagrees with any romantic notions of a "Paris of the East Indies.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsWell-written but with a couple of issues
By MirajaniHiggins on December 22, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I haven't even finished the book but there were a couple of issues I have noticed already. In one case, there were several pages where the writing was double-typed and smeary and looked as though someone had scanned in sheets of pages that had been badly typed using old carbon paper. Another issue was the slight case of "hindsight is 20/20" history near the beginning. Yes, we all know that slavery is wrong and that some segments of the population (ie--people of color) got the short end of the stick in centuries past while the "white oppressors" lorded it over them. This is historic fact and, while we would consider it to be wrong today, that was a different time and place. There was a judgemental tone to the writing that I found objectionable. History should be kept in its perspective unless the writer was deliberately trying to incite negative emotions within the modern-day reader.

Other than that, I find that I have been enjoying the book. Since much of it is based on the translated French and Dutch writings of the day about La Catastrophe, it offers a different view of the demise of St. Pierre than the English-based accounts. I look forward to reading more. The book is a bit pricey, as ebooks go, but I think it might be worth it.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA comparative review of two (very good) books about the same event
By Boris Behncke on February 3, 2006
Format: Hardcover
This review is unusual in that it compares two books that were published nearly at the same time and both deal with the same event: the devastating 1902 eruption of Montagne Pelée volcano on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

The first of these books is Alwyn Scarth's "LA Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelée, the Worst Volcanic Disaster of the 20th Century", the second is Ernest Zebrowski's "The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster that Claimed 30,000 Lives", published just four months earlier. Both books mark the 100th anniversary of the eruption that virtually exterminated the town of Saint-Pierre along with nearly all of its inhabitants. Both fulfill an important mission: putting an end to the incredible amount and degree of misinformation veiling that tragic event to the present day.

The 1902 Montagne Pelée (commonly translated into Mount Pelée in the English literature) produced a phenomenon called pyroclastic flows (and/or surges), which had until then not been recognized by geologists - although today we know that they occur quite frequently. Just as I write this review (early February 2006), pyroclastic flows are spilling down the slopes of Mount St. Augustine volcano in Alaska. They were produced by nearly all the famous explosive eruptions in history, including Mount St. Helens (1980), Pinatubo (1991), Krakatau (1883), and Vesuvius (79 A.D.).

However, there was no common conscience of pyroclastic flows among scientists and people living on volcanoes in early 1902, when Montagne Pelée stirred and gradually came back to life. What was known at the time about volcanoes was limited to lava flows, ash falls, and tsunamis (the latter are rarely caused by volcanic eruptions).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsVery informative about a huge catastrophe.

During a long voyage cruising we visited St Pierre. We learned the history of the village and wanted to get a more complete picture of the disaster. Read more

Published on March 24, 2013 by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book For The Amateur Volcanologist

The author describes the events and some important players in the destruction of a city at the hands of a nuee ardente aka a pyroclastic dense current. Read more

Published on February 4, 2013 by Peter
5.0 out of 5 starsAUTHOR AIMS TO CORRECT MISCONCEPTIONS

Volcanoes kill in many ways, and the the 1902 Martinique eruption is one of the rare volcanic eruptions; Pompeii being the other, to destroy a whole city through its eruptive gas... Read more

Published on January 26, 2010 by Severin Olson
4.0 out of 5 starsGood info, but do not rely on this book alone.

If you want to know about the 1902 volcano, you need to read three books. This one, The Day the World Ended by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts, 1969; and The Last Days of St. Read more

Published on October 31, 2009 by Mr. C. Doyle
5.0 out of 5 starsVIVID DETAILS

Loved this book, could not put it down, felt like I was there. I want to keep reading .

Published on July 2, 2004
4.0 out of 5 starsA huge cloud of red-hot ash and gas shot down the mountain

The volcano Mount Pelée, on the Caribbean island of Martinique did not behave according to scientific expectations. Read more

Published on August 14, 2003 by ealovitt

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