Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America
Beginning with the famine- and disease-ridden Jamestown colony in 1607 and ending with the deadly Johnstown flood of 1889—and highlighting various fires, epidemics, earthquakes, and steamboat explosions along the way—the book recounts the stories horrific episodes and the resulting efforts to explain, prevent, and relieve these disaster-related tragedies. Although how we interpret and respond to such cataclysmic events has changed in some ways, Inventing Disaster reconstructs the intellectual and cultural history of the twenty-first-century approach to our own seemingly never-ending parade hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters.
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5,309 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about Hurricane Katrina, smallpox, and North Carolina.
We think you will like Rescued, Salvage the Bones, and Jesus Out to Sea if you like this list.
From David's list on the best books for serious thinkers about cats and dogs.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most transformative events in our relationship with cats and dogs. This book charts some of the incredible rescues that took place in the aftermath of this epic disaster. Heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure, it will inspire those who care about animals to care even more—and perhaps even volunteer themselves.
From Katherine's list on the best books on the complexity of American girlhood.
When I am asked whether my next book will also be true crime, I say that my wheelhouse isn’t actually true crime but stories about pregnant teenage girls. This extends to my reading material. Salvage the Bones is a heart-stopping novel about a 15-year-old girl being raised by her widowed father in small-town Mississippi. In the calm before Hurricane Katrina, Esch and her three brothers—who alternately play basketball, raise pit bulls to dogfight and get in the way—are only just getting by. But Esch has a secret, which threatens to tip her life into chaos—there’s a baby growing inside of her. This book shines a light on the vast unfairness of the responsibility of pregnancy. I all but held my breath for the last 50 pages.
From Lynn's list on the best books to read in tandem with their eccentric movie adaptations.
The book is a collection of short stories by my favorite mystery novel writer. Burke’s series detective, Dave Robicheaux, who is both a Louisiana cop and a moral philosopher, repeatedly strives to overcome his own flaws and set right the cruel catastrophes wrought by human ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty. Jesus Out to Sea is infused with the same narrative and poetic ferocity, but without Robicheaux this time. The collection is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and probes the human costs of the devastation wrought by nature and exacerbated by administrative corruption and bad faith.
A surprising and powerful adaptation of one of the stories—“Winter Light”—will be released theatrically in the fall of 2022 with the title God’s Country. It’s the first feature by Julian Higgins, a promising young director (who happens to be my son). The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to enthusiastic reviews and stars Thandiwe Newton in a performance that has been described as the best of her career.