Disasters and History: The Vulnerability and Resilience of Past Societies [Hardcover]

Offers the first comprehensive overview of research into hazards and disasters from a historical perspective. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.Disasters and History offers the first comprehensive overview of research into hazards and disasters from a historical perspective. It uses history to understand the ways that societies deal with nature-induced hazards and their disastrous outcomes and will also be valuable to practitioners of contemporary disaster studies and related fields. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.Disasters and History offers the first comprehensive overview of research into hazards and disasters from a historical perspective. It uses history to understand the ways that societies deal with nature-induced hazards and their disastrous outcomes and will also be valuable to practitioners of contemporary disaster studies and related fields. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.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.Preface; 1. Introduction: Disasters and History; 2. Classification and Concepts; 3. History as a Laboratory: Materials and MlÓé