Disasters

Can salt cause the destruction of a civilization? Can a lake really spread poison gas? What turned the European skies beautiful colours in the summer of 1815? And for how long will the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear blast be felt?

From the volcano at Pompeii to Hurricane Sandy, from the medieval Black Death to the 1930s Dust Bowl, from the San Francisco earthquake to the world influenza pandemic to the drying up of the Aral Sea, Disasters selects 43 of the world’s worst catastrophes.

Arranged chronologically and illustrated with photographs and artworks, Disasters ranges from the ancient world to the present day and includes both natural and man- made disasters, explaining how these volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, famines and plagues came to happen and the devastation that they caused.

With more than 80 photographs and artworks and easy-to-read narratives and factboxes, Disasters is a fascinating collection of historical calamities.