Author: Dona Brown
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588344304
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Quaint, charming, nostalgic New England: rustic fishing villages, romantic seaside cottages, breathtaking mountain vistas, peaceful rural settings. In Inventing New England, Dona Brown traces the creation of these calendar-page images and describes how tourism as a business emerged and came to shape the landscape, economy, and culture of a region. By the latter nineteenth century, Brown argues, tourism had become an integral part of New England's rural economy, and the short vacation a fixture of middle-class life. Focusing on such meccas as the White Mountains, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, coastal Maine, and Vermont, Brown describes how failed port cities, abandoned farms, and even scenery were churned through powerful marketing engines promoting nostalgia. She also examines the irony of an industry that was based on an escape from commerce but served as an engine of industrial development, spawning hotel construction, land speculation, the spread of wage labor, and a vast market for guidebooks and other publications.
Inventing New England
Author: Dona Brown
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588344304
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Quaint, charming, nostalgic New England: rustic fishing villages, romantic seaside cottages, breathtaking mountain vistas, peaceful rural settings. In Inventing New England, Dona Brown traces the creation of these calendar-page images and describes how tourism as a business emerged and came to shape the landscape, economy, and culture of a region. By the latter nineteenth century, Brown argues, tourism had become an integral part of New England's rural economy, and the short vacation a fixture of middle-class life. Focusing on such meccas as the White Mountains, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, coastal Maine, and Vermont, Brown describes how failed port cities, abandoned farms, and even scenery were churned through powerful marketing engines promoting nostalgia. She also examines the irony of an industry that was based on an escape from commerce but served as an engine of industrial development, spawning hotel construction, land speculation, the spread of wage labor, and a vast market for guidebooks and other publications.
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588344304
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Quaint, charming, nostalgic New England: rustic fishing villages, romantic seaside cottages, breathtaking mountain vistas, peaceful rural settings. In Inventing New England, Dona Brown traces the creation of these calendar-page images and describes how tourism as a business emerged and came to shape the landscape, economy, and culture of a region. By the latter nineteenth century, Brown argues, tourism had become an integral part of New England's rural economy, and the short vacation a fixture of middle-class life. Focusing on such meccas as the White Mountains, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, coastal Maine, and Vermont, Brown describes how failed port cities, abandoned farms, and even scenery were churned through powerful marketing engines promoting nostalgia. She also examines the irony of an industry that was based on an escape from commerce but served as an engine of industrial development, spawning hotel construction, land speculation, the spread of wage labor, and a vast market for guidebooks and other publications.
Inventing New England
Author: Dona Brown
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1560987995
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Quaint, charming, nostalgic New England: rustic fishing villages, romantic seaside cottages, breathtaking mountain vistas, peaceful rural settings. In Inventing New England, Dona Brown traces the creation of these calendar-page images and describes how tourism as a business emerged and came to shape the landscape, economy, and culture of a region. By the latter nineteenth century, Brown argues, tourism had become an integral part of New England's rural economy, and the short vacation a fixture of middle-class life. Focusing on such meccas as the White Mountains, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, coastal Maine, and Vermont, Brown describes how failed port cities, abandoned farms, and even scenery were churned through powerful marketing engines promoting nostalgia. She also examines the irony of an industry that was based on an escape from commerce but served as an engine of industrial development, spawning hotel construction, land speculation, the spread of wage labor, and a vast market for guidebooks and other publications.
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1560987995
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Quaint, charming, nostalgic New England: rustic fishing villages, romantic seaside cottages, breathtaking mountain vistas, peaceful rural settings. In Inventing New England, Dona Brown traces the creation of these calendar-page images and describes how tourism as a business emerged and came to shape the landscape, economy, and culture of a region. By the latter nineteenth century, Brown argues, tourism had become an integral part of New England's rural economy, and the short vacation a fixture of middle-class life. Focusing on such meccas as the White Mountains, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, coastal Maine, and Vermont, Brown describes how failed port cities, abandoned farms, and even scenery were churned through powerful marketing engines promoting nostalgia. She also examines the irony of an industry that was based on an escape from commerce but served as an engine of industrial development, spawning hotel construction, land speculation, the spread of wage labor, and a vast market for guidebooks and other publications.
Inventing New England's Slave Paradise
Author: Robert K. Fitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815332800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Many 19th and 20th century historians have argued that Northern slavery was mild and that master/slave relations were relatively harmonious. Yet, Northern slavery, like Southern, was characterized by the conflict between the masters' desire to control their slaves and the slaves' resistance to this domination. For a variety of political, social, and intellectual reasons, 19th and 20th century historians ignored this inherent conflict in discussions of Northern slavery. Fitts' research focuses on how and why historians sanitized the history of slavery in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and then shows the inadequacy of these interpretations by examining several of the planters' and slaves' conflicting strategies of control and resistance. Topics include how planters used physical punishment, legislation, and the threat of sale in an attempt to control their slaves, and how slaves resisted through violence, running away, and non-violent crime. Fitts also examines the plantation landscape as a site of symbolic contestation and includes a chapter on slave names. (Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University, 1995; revised with new preface)
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815332800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Many 19th and 20th century historians have argued that Northern slavery was mild and that master/slave relations were relatively harmonious. Yet, Northern slavery, like Southern, was characterized by the conflict between the masters' desire to control their slaves and the slaves' resistance to this domination. For a variety of political, social, and intellectual reasons, 19th and 20th century historians ignored this inherent conflict in discussions of Northern slavery. Fitts' research focuses on how and why historians sanitized the history of slavery in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and then shows the inadequacy of these interpretations by examining several of the planters' and slaves' conflicting strategies of control and resistance. Topics include how planters used physical punishment, legislation, and the threat of sale in an attempt to control their slaves, and how slaves resisted through violence, running away, and non-violent crime. Fitts also examines the plantation landscape as a site of symbolic contestation and includes a chapter on slave names. (Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University, 1995; revised with new preface)
Creating New England Villages
Author: Evan J. Kern
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 9780811727839
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 134
Book Description
Create charming and historically accurate miniature buildings from New England's past. Easy instructions explain every step in the process--from cutting and gluing to coloring and finishing. Projects include a sugarhouse, covered bridge, Cape Cod house, church, lighthouse, gristmill, and more. 36 color photos, 38 drawings.
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 9780811727839
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 134
Book Description
Create charming and historically accurate miniature buildings from New England's past. Easy instructions explain every step in the process--from cutting and gluing to coloring and finishing. Projects include a sugarhouse, covered bridge, Cape Cod house, church, lighthouse, gristmill, and more. 36 color photos, 38 drawings.
Inventing Irish America
Author: Timothy J. Meagher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 618
Book Description
An analysis of the Irish community of city of Worcester, Massachusetts around the turn of the 20th century. The author reveals how an ethnic group can endure and yet change when its first American-born generation takes control of its destiny.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 618
Book Description
An analysis of the Irish community of city of Worcester, Massachusetts around the turn of the 20th century. The author reveals how an ethnic group can endure and yet change when its first American-born generation takes control of its destiny.
Inventing Ethan Allen
Author: John J. Duffy
Publisher: University Press of New England
ISBN: 1611685559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Since 1969, Ethan Allen has been the subject of three biographical studies, all of which indulge in sustaining and revitalizing the image of Allen as a physically imposing Vermont yeoman, a defender of the rights of Americans, an eloquent military hero, and a master of many guises, from rough frontiersman to gentleman philosopher. Seeking the authentic Ethan Allen, the authors of this volume ask: How did that Ethan Allen secure his place in popular culture? As they observe, this spectacular persona leaves little room for a more accurate assessment of Allen as a self-interested land speculator, rebellious mob leader, inexperienced militia officer, and truth-challenged man who would steer Vermont into the British Empire. Drawing extensively from the correspondence in Ethan Allen and his Kin and a wide range of historical, political, and cultural sources, Duffy and Muller analyze the factors that led to Ethan Allen's two-hundred-year-old status as the most famous figure in Vermont's past. Placing facts against myths, the authors reveal how Allen acquired and retained his iconic image, how the much-repeated legends composed after his death coincide with his life, why recollections of him are synonymous with the story of Vermont, and why some Vermonters still assign to Allen their own cherished and idealized values.
Publisher: University Press of New England
ISBN: 1611685559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Since 1969, Ethan Allen has been the subject of three biographical studies, all of which indulge in sustaining and revitalizing the image of Allen as a physically imposing Vermont yeoman, a defender of the rights of Americans, an eloquent military hero, and a master of many guises, from rough frontiersman to gentleman philosopher. Seeking the authentic Ethan Allen, the authors of this volume ask: How did that Ethan Allen secure his place in popular culture? As they observe, this spectacular persona leaves little room for a more accurate assessment of Allen as a self-interested land speculator, rebellious mob leader, inexperienced militia officer, and truth-challenged man who would steer Vermont into the British Empire. Drawing extensively from the correspondence in Ethan Allen and his Kin and a wide range of historical, political, and cultural sources, Duffy and Muller analyze the factors that led to Ethan Allen's two-hundred-year-old status as the most famous figure in Vermont's past. Placing facts against myths, the authors reveal how Allen acquired and retained his iconic image, how the much-repeated legends composed after his death coincide with his life, why recollections of him are synonymous with the story of Vermont, and why some Vermonters still assign to Allen their own cherished and idealized values.
Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America
Author: Edmund S. Morgan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393347494
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
"The best explanation that I have seen for our distinctive combination of faith, hope and naiveté concerning the governmental process." —Michael Kamman, Washington Post This book makes the provocative case here that America has remained politically stable because the Founding Fathers invented the idea of the American people and used it to impose a government on the new nation. His landmark analysis shows how the notion of popular sovereignty—the unexpected offspring of an older, equally fictional notion, the "divine right of kings"—has worked in our history and remains a political force today.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393347494
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
"The best explanation that I have seen for our distinctive combination of faith, hope and naiveté concerning the governmental process." —Michael Kamman, Washington Post This book makes the provocative case here that America has remained politically stable because the Founding Fathers invented the idea of the American people and used it to impose a government on the new nation. His landmark analysis shows how the notion of popular sovereignty—the unexpected offspring of an older, equally fictional notion, the "divine right of kings"—has worked in our history and remains a political force today.
Inventing the Victorians
Author: Matthew Sweet
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1466872713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
"Suppose that everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." So begins Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet, a compact and mind-bending whirlwind tour through the soul of the nineteenth century, and a round debunking of our assumptions about it. The Victorians have been victims of the "the enormous condescension of posterity," in the historian E. P. Thompson's phrase. Locked in the drawing room, theirs was an age when, supposedly, existence was stultifying, dank, and over-furnished, and when behavior conformed so rigorously to proprieties that the repressed results put Freud into business. We think we have the Victorians pegged--as self-righteous, imperialist, racist, materialist, hypocritical and, worst of all, earnest. Oh how wrong we are, argues Matthew Sweet in this highly entertaining, provocative, and illuminating look at our great, and great-great, grandparents. One hundred years after Queen Victoria's death, Sweet forces us to think again about her century, entombed in our minds by Dickens, the Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, and by images of unfettered capitalism and grinding poverty. Sweet believes not only that we're wrong about the Victorians but profoundly indebted to them. In ways we have been slow to acknowledge, their age and our own remain closely intertwined. The Victorians invented the theme park, the shopping mall, the movies, the penny arcade, the roller coaster, the crime novel, and the sensational newspaper story. Sweet also argues that our twenty-first century smugness about how far we have evolved is misplaced. The Victorians were less racist than we are, less religious, less violent, and less intolerant. Far from being an outcast, Oscar Wilde was a fairly typical Victorian man; the love that dared not speak its name was declared itself fairly openly. In 1868 the first international cricket match was played between an English team and an Australian team composed entirely of aborigines. The Victorians loved sensation, novelty, scandal, weekend getaways, and the latest conveniences (by 1869, there were image-capable telegraphs; in 1873 a store had a machine that dispensed milk to after-hours' shoppers). Does all this sound familiar? As Sweet proves in this fascinating, eye-opening book, the reflection we find in the mirror of the nineteenth century is our own. We inhabit buildings built by the Victorians; some of us use their sewer system and ride on the railways they built. We dismiss them because they are the age against whom we have defined our own. In brilliant style, Inventing the Victorians shows how much we have been missing.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1466872713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
"Suppose that everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." So begins Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet, a compact and mind-bending whirlwind tour through the soul of the nineteenth century, and a round debunking of our assumptions about it. The Victorians have been victims of the "the enormous condescension of posterity," in the historian E. P. Thompson's phrase. Locked in the drawing room, theirs was an age when, supposedly, existence was stultifying, dank, and over-furnished, and when behavior conformed so rigorously to proprieties that the repressed results put Freud into business. We think we have the Victorians pegged--as self-righteous, imperialist, racist, materialist, hypocritical and, worst of all, earnest. Oh how wrong we are, argues Matthew Sweet in this highly entertaining, provocative, and illuminating look at our great, and great-great, grandparents. One hundred years after Queen Victoria's death, Sweet forces us to think again about her century, entombed in our minds by Dickens, the Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, and by images of unfettered capitalism and grinding poverty. Sweet believes not only that we're wrong about the Victorians but profoundly indebted to them. In ways we have been slow to acknowledge, their age and our own remain closely intertwined. The Victorians invented the theme park, the shopping mall, the movies, the penny arcade, the roller coaster, the crime novel, and the sensational newspaper story. Sweet also argues that our twenty-first century smugness about how far we have evolved is misplaced. The Victorians were less racist than we are, less religious, less violent, and less intolerant. Far from being an outcast, Oscar Wilde was a fairly typical Victorian man; the love that dared not speak its name was declared itself fairly openly. In 1868 the first international cricket match was played between an English team and an Australian team composed entirely of aborigines. The Victorians loved sensation, novelty, scandal, weekend getaways, and the latest conveniences (by 1869, there were image-capable telegraphs; in 1873 a store had a machine that dispensed milk to after-hours' shoppers). Does all this sound familiar? As Sweet proves in this fascinating, eye-opening book, the reflection we find in the mirror of the nineteenth century is our own. We inhabit buildings built by the Victorians; some of us use their sewer system and ride on the railways they built. We dismiss them because they are the age against whom we have defined our own. In brilliant style, Inventing the Victorians shows how much we have been missing.
Innovation Economy
Author: Scott Kirsner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
How are innovation and entrepreneurship different in New England than other parts of the world? Who are the key players driving progress forward in technology, life sciences, energy, and robotics? Scott Kirsner has covered research, startups, and venture capital in the New England region for publications like Wired, Fast Company, and the New York Times, and has written a regular column for the Boston Globe since 2000. This collection explores what it takes to start and build businesses -- whether selling fresh-cut New Hampshire Christmas trees online or designing bespoke bacteria on the edge of Boston Harbor. Kirsner includes profiles and columns of inventors Dean Kamen, Tim Berners-Lee, and Ray Kurzweil; stories about the early days of Dropbox, Facebook, and iRobot; and tales of scammers selling computer gear on eBay and scientists racing to develop new COVID vaccines. There are also colorful pieces about why Cambridge has hundreds of biotech companies and neighboring Somerville almost none; how the frat house that inspired "Animal House" became a coworking space; the mysterious Cambridge factory where every Junior Mint in the world is produced; what happened when one startup tried to obtain a license plate for its flying car; and why robots may need to carry candy to bribe humans. This collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the dynamics that drive innovation and entrepreneurship -- not just in New England, but anywhere in the world. ***** Testimonials for Innovation Economy ***** "I''ve been a passionate Scott Kirsner fan for twenty years, because he has an uncanny ability to turn complex business concepts into super-fun stories that I always learn from. Reading this collection is like sitting down to drinks with a dear friend. Some stories I remember, while some are new, and they are all fascinating." -- David Meerman Scott, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of "Fanocracy" "To succeed as an innovator, it is imperative to be informed by both the work of earlier pioneers and current-day peers. Innovation Economy is like a main line IV of those riveting stories. Plus, the book is full of little-known facts, hilarious anecdotes, and the human foibles that make these endeavors relatable." -- Jules Pieri, Co-Founder, The Grommet and author of "How We Make Stuff Now" "For years, Scott has been an avid player in the New England innovation scene. He seemed to be at every conference or gathering, often as an organizer or facilitator. He pumped us all for stories. He got to know us as people. He''d then distill that down into articles for the Boston Globe and others. More than ''reporting,'' these were stories told with reasons behind them, and with humans and the world they lived in shown as he saw it. He showed us companies that succeeded, as well as those that ultimately failed. The tales presented here give insight into an ecosystem that any region in the world would be blessed to have. You come away with a broad feel for an environment that moves technology forward..." -- Dan Bricklin, Co-Creator of VisiCalc, the computing era''s first "killer app" and author of "Bricklin on Technology" "Reading this outstanding collection reminded me about the fundamental technological changes we''ve all lived through in this century, and how important it is to understand them." -- Wade Roush, Host and Producer of the podcast Soonish "''Proximity matters,'' writes Kirsner. Innovation Economy chronicles the evolution of one of the world''s great startup hubs over the past two decades, and shows how Boston''s bold entrepreneurs have been enabled by its universities, hospitals, accelerators, big corporations, and venture capital firms. History matters, too, and Kirsner connects Boston''s present to its past with deep insight and a great flair for storytelling." -- Tom Eisenmann, Professor, Harvard Business School and author, "Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success"
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
How are innovation and entrepreneurship different in New England than other parts of the world? Who are the key players driving progress forward in technology, life sciences, energy, and robotics? Scott Kirsner has covered research, startups, and venture capital in the New England region for publications like Wired, Fast Company, and the New York Times, and has written a regular column for the Boston Globe since 2000. This collection explores what it takes to start and build businesses -- whether selling fresh-cut New Hampshire Christmas trees online or designing bespoke bacteria on the edge of Boston Harbor. Kirsner includes profiles and columns of inventors Dean Kamen, Tim Berners-Lee, and Ray Kurzweil; stories about the early days of Dropbox, Facebook, and iRobot; and tales of scammers selling computer gear on eBay and scientists racing to develop new COVID vaccines. There are also colorful pieces about why Cambridge has hundreds of biotech companies and neighboring Somerville almost none; how the frat house that inspired "Animal House" became a coworking space; the mysterious Cambridge factory where every Junior Mint in the world is produced; what happened when one startup tried to obtain a license plate for its flying car; and why robots may need to carry candy to bribe humans. This collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the dynamics that drive innovation and entrepreneurship -- not just in New England, but anywhere in the world. ***** Testimonials for Innovation Economy ***** "I''ve been a passionate Scott Kirsner fan for twenty years, because he has an uncanny ability to turn complex business concepts into super-fun stories that I always learn from. Reading this collection is like sitting down to drinks with a dear friend. Some stories I remember, while some are new, and they are all fascinating." -- David Meerman Scott, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of "Fanocracy" "To succeed as an innovator, it is imperative to be informed by both the work of earlier pioneers and current-day peers. Innovation Economy is like a main line IV of those riveting stories. Plus, the book is full of little-known facts, hilarious anecdotes, and the human foibles that make these endeavors relatable." -- Jules Pieri, Co-Founder, The Grommet and author of "How We Make Stuff Now" "For years, Scott has been an avid player in the New England innovation scene. He seemed to be at every conference or gathering, often as an organizer or facilitator. He pumped us all for stories. He got to know us as people. He''d then distill that down into articles for the Boston Globe and others. More than ''reporting,'' these were stories told with reasons behind them, and with humans and the world they lived in shown as he saw it. He showed us companies that succeeded, as well as those that ultimately failed. The tales presented here give insight into an ecosystem that any region in the world would be blessed to have. You come away with a broad feel for an environment that moves technology forward..." -- Dan Bricklin, Co-Creator of VisiCalc, the computing era''s first "killer app" and author of "Bricklin on Technology" "Reading this outstanding collection reminded me about the fundamental technological changes we''ve all lived through in this century, and how important it is to understand them." -- Wade Roush, Host and Producer of the podcast Soonish "''Proximity matters,'' writes Kirsner. Innovation Economy chronicles the evolution of one of the world''s great startup hubs over the past two decades, and shows how Boston''s bold entrepreneurs have been enabled by its universities, hospitals, accelerators, big corporations, and venture capital firms. History matters, too, and Kirsner connects Boston''s present to its past with deep insight and a great flair for storytelling." -- Tom Eisenmann, Professor, Harvard Business School and author, "Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success"
Inventing Disaster
Author: Cynthia A. Kierner
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469652528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
When hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters strike, we count our losses, search for causes, commiserate with victims, and initiate relief efforts. Amply illustrated and expansively researched, Inventing Disaster explains the origins and development of this predictable, even ritualized, culture of calamity over three centuries, exploring its roots in the revolutions in science, information, and emotion that were part of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and America. Beginning with the collapse of the early seventeenth-century Jamestown colony, ending with the deadly Johnstown flood of 1889, and highlighting fires, epidemics, earthquakes, and exploding steamboats along the way, Cynthia A. Kierner tells horrific stories of culturally significant calamities and their victims and charts efforts to explain, prevent, and relieve disaster-related losses. Although how we interpret and respond to disasters has changed in some ways since the nineteenth century, Kierner demonstrates that, for better or worse, the intellectual, economic, and political environments of earlier eras forged our own twenty-first-century approach to disaster, shaping the stories we tell, the precautions we ponder, and the remedies we prescribe for disaster-ravaged communities.
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469652528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
When hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters strike, we count our losses, search for causes, commiserate with victims, and initiate relief efforts. Amply illustrated and expansively researched, Inventing Disaster explains the origins and development of this predictable, even ritualized, culture of calamity over three centuries, exploring its roots in the revolutions in science, information, and emotion that were part of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and America. Beginning with the collapse of the early seventeenth-century Jamestown colony, ending with the deadly Johnstown flood of 1889, and highlighting fires, epidemics, earthquakes, and exploding steamboats along the way, Cynthia A. Kierner tells horrific stories of culturally significant calamities and their victims and charts efforts to explain, prevent, and relieve disaster-related losses. Although how we interpret and respond to disasters has changed in some ways since the nineteenth century, Kierner demonstrates that, for better or worse, the intellectual, economic, and political environments of earlier eras forged our own twenty-first-century approach to disaster, shaping the stories we tell, the precautions we ponder, and the remedies we prescribe for disaster-ravaged communities.