American Disasters [Paperback]

This is an edited book with chapters on the Chicago fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, the Challenger disaster and others that have impacted US history. The idea was to look at how these tragedies have impacted American culture and psychology. How have they helped shape who we are as a nation? It is not a bad idea for a book at all. It's just the subject most likely to be written about by academics, and one that desperately needs non academic contributers.

The primary problem is that academic writing is as dull and dry as writing can be. It never addresses the issues of the common man or puts itself in the reader's shoes. Instead it relies on analysis of quotes and a few publications. Often the authors don't appear interested in their own material. Steven Biel, for instance, in his chapter says the Titanic was no more memorable than any other event! He critizes other writers of popular history who "reduce complex processes to single dramatic moments". But what is life if not single dramatic moments? This book could have used a few, as most of the chapters are quite dull. The article on the Galveston storm, by Patricia Bixel spills most of its ink on flood wall politics, ignoring more interesting aspects.

Another problem here is extreme left-wing bias, another weakness of academia. Kevin Rozario contributes a chapter on capitalism and disasters that insists the capitalists actually want disaster so they can make more money rebuilding. As he describes it, capitalism is actually a destructive, not a constructive force. Business leaders must like nothing better than to see their buildings go up in smoke. One would think the average shop owner would love for a youth to put a rock through his window. But the worst chapter in this regard is by Ralph Savarese on the Air Florida crash in DC. Savarese is a marxist made distraught by the fall of the Soviet Union. He blames the plane crash on, well, 'commodity capital'. In fact the chapter, one of the longest in the book, says little about the crash itself and focuses instead on the faults of the Reagan administration in fostering an inegalitarian society. Savarese links the accident to the firing of the PATCO air traffic controllers, even though the plane crashed due to icing on the wings! It is hard to respect someone who puts out such nonsense.

Of course a few chapters are fairly good. Ted Steinberg shows how San Francisco leaders sought to downplay earthquake risk after 1906, blaming the fire for all the damage. The most interesting chapter by far was by Andrew Hazucha. He describes the 1977 Chicago L train crash. Although not a truly major disaster, he brings it to life and shows how it shook Chicago in a special way. Unfortunately, though, such chapters are the exception, not the rule. Perhaps that's why so few have read this book.

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