As the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain began to pour into New Orleans, people began asking
the big question--could any of this have been avoided? How much of the damage from Hurricane Katrina was bad luck,
and how much was poor city planning?
Steinberg's Acts of God is a provocative history of natural disasters in the United States. This revised edition
features a new chapter analyzing the failed response to Hurricane Katrina, a disaster Steinberg warned could happen
when the book first was published. Focusing on America's worst natural disasters, Steinberg argues that it is wrong
to see these tragedies as random outbursts of nature's violence or expressions of divine judgment. He reveals how
the decisions of business leaders and government officials have paved the way for the greater losses of life and
property, especially among those least able to withstand such blows--America's poor, elderly, and minorities. Seeing
nature or God as the primary culprit, Steinberg explains, has helped to hide the fact that some Americans are simply
better able to protect themselves from the violence of nature than others.
In the face of revelations about how the federal government mishandled the Katrina calamity, this book is a must-read
before further wind and water sweep away more lives. Acts of God is a call to action that needs desperately to
be heard.