The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective (Paperback)

~ Oliver-Smith (Author)
Key Phrases: convergent catastrophe, firestorm survivors, phoenix effect, New York, Hurricane Andrew, Union Carbide (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Angry Earth breaks new ground as anthropologists take a close look at disasters and the response of victims in the immediate aftermath and over the long-run. The book demonstrates how disasters arise from the human propensity to take risks that make people vulnerable to cataclysms, whether natural or technologically related and demonstrates how far anthropology has moved from models that assumed stasis and equilibrium. The Angry Earth should be read by all who deal with disaster situations. -- Elizabeth Colson, author of The Social Consequences of Resettlement
This collection is the first to adequately represent the cultural, historical and geographical scope and complexities of the problem of disaster. It introduces a range of useful perspectives and arguments, with compelling examples. One wishes such a collection had been available to help define the agenda for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, now ending. -- Kenneth Hewitt, author of Regions of Risk: a Geographical Introduction to Disasters and editor of Interpretations of Calamity
The Angry Earth will certainly help make disasters salient to students just coming to anthropology and, one hopes, move others across disciplinary boundaries toward new questions and new perspectives. Offering new and established scholars a promising framework for the new disaster social science now being written, this book belongs on all our reading lists. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, August 2000, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 347-349 This collection is the first to adequately represent the cultural, historical and geographical scope and complexities of the problem of disaster. It introduces a range of useful perspectives and arguments, with compelling examples. One wishes such a collection had been available to help define the agenda for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, now ending. -- Kenneth Hewitt, author of Regions of Risk: a Geographical Introduction to Disasters and editor of Interpretations of Calamity
The sixteen essays in The Angry Earth provide empirically fascinating, theoretically compelling, and often heart wrenching analyses of the constitution, effects and human experience of disasters... There can be no doubt that the essays in this volume are essential reading for those interested in hazards and disaster studies. -- Environments (U.K.)
The sixteen essays in The Angry Earth provide empirically fascinating, theoretically compelling, and often heart wrenching analyses of the constitution, effects and human experience of disasters... There can be no doubt that the essays in this volume are essential reading for those interested in hazards and disaster studies. -- Environments

The Angry Earth breaks new ground as anthropologists take a close look at disasters and the response of victims in the immediate aftermath and over the long-run. The book demonstrates how disasters arise from the human propensity to take risks that make people vulnerable to cataclysms, whether natural or technologically related and demonstrates how far anthropology has moved from models that assumed stasis and equilibrium. The Angry Earth should be read by all who deal with disaster situations. -- Elizabeth Colson, author of The Social Consequences of Resettlement
This collection is the first to adequately represent the cultural, historical and geographical scope and complexities of the problem of disaster. It introduces a range of useful perspectives and arguments, with compelling examples. One wishes such a collection had been available to help define the agenda for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, now ending. -- Kenneth Hewitt, author of Regions of Risk: a Geographical Introduction to Disasters and editor of Interpretations of Calamity
The Angry Earth will certainly help make disasters salient to students just coming to anthropology and, one hopes, move others across disciplinary boundaries toward new questions and new perspectives. Offering new and established scholars a promising framework for the new disaster social science now being written, this book belongs on all our reading lists. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, August 2000, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 347-349 This collection is the first to adequately represent the cultural, historical and geographical scope and complexities of the problem of disaster. It introduces a range of useful perspectives and arguments, with compelling examples. One wishes such a collection had been available to help define the agenda for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, now ending. -- Kenneth Hewitt, author of Regions of Risk: a Geographical Introduction to Disasters and editor of Interpretations of Calamity
The sixteen essays in The Angry Earth provide empirically fascinating, theoretically compelling, and often heart wrenching analyses of the constitution, effects and human experience of disasters... There can be no doubt that the essays in this volume are essential reading for those interested in hazards and disaster studies. -- Environments (U.K.)
The sixteen essays in The Angry Earth provide empirically fascinating, theoretically compelling, and often heart wrenching analyses of the constitution, effects and human experience of disasters... There can be no doubt that the essays in this volume are essential reading for those interested in hazards and disaster studies. -- Environments

Product Description

From hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes to oil spills and nuclear accidents, natural and technological disasters have become increasingly frequent and destructive across the planet. This ground-breaking collection of essays explores how various cultures in different historical moments have responded to calamity, offering new insights into the complex relationship between society and environment. Through case studies of communities in Great Britain, the Mediterranean, Asia and the Americas, contributors examine issues ranging from the social and political factors that set the stage for disaster, to the cultural processes experienced by survivors, to the long-term impact of disasters on culture and society.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415919878
• ISBN-13: 978-0415919876
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #237,709 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)