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Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood by Cynthia A. Kierner (review)

Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood by... 308 } e A r Ly A mer i CAN L iter Atur e : Vo Lu me 5 7, N u m B er 1 Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood CyNthiA A. kierNer University of North Carolina Press, 2019 286 pp. Disasters are hard to avoid these days. Accounts of environmental, political, social, and technological (to name just a few) catastrophes in - un date our newsfeeds with stories and images of suffering, loss, and death. Though each disaster is situated in a unique time and place, every dis- as ter’s narrative seems to follow a familiar arc. The earliest reports provide quantitative data and scientific analysis. Human interest stories about the victims and villains are then followed by accounts of rescue, resilience, and the inevitable postdisaster investigations charged with ascertaining causes and identifying interventions. Along the way, disasters as varied as wa - re house fires, hurricanes, mass shootings, and global pandemics become Rorschach tests on cultural and political tensions, fueling debate and, on occasion, action. Until, that is, the next disaster captures the news cycle, and the story begins anew. Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Early American Literature University of North Carolina Press

Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood by Cynthia A. Kierner (review)

Wells, Jamin
Early American Literature , Volume 57 (1) – Feb 4, 2022
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1534-147X

Abstract

308 } e A r Ly A mer i CAN L iter Atur e : Vo Lu me 5 7, N u m B er 1 Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood CyNthiA A. kierNer University of North Carolina Press, 2019 286 pp. Disasters are hard to avoid these days. Accounts of environmental, political, social, and technological (to name just a few) catastrophes in - un date our newsfeeds with stories and images of suffering, loss, and death. Though each disaster is situated in a unique time and place, every dis- as ter’s narrative seems to follow a familiar arc. The earliest reports provide quantitative data and scientific analysis. Human interest stories about the victims and villains are then followed by accounts of rescue, resilience, and the inevitable postdisaster investigations charged with ascertaining causes and identifying interventions. Along the way, disasters as varied as wa - re house fires, hurricanes, mass shootings, and global pandemics become Rorschach tests on cultural and political tensions, fueling debate and, on occasion, action. Until, that is, the next disaster captures the news cycle, and the story begins anew. Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the

Journal

Early American Literature – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Feb 4, 2022

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