A panoramic social history of hurricanes in the Caribbean
The diverse cultures of the Caribbean have been shaped as much by
hurricanes as they have by diplomacy, commerce, or the legacy of
colonial rule. In this panoramic work of social history, Stuart Schwartz
examines how Caribbean societies have responded to the dangers of
hurricanes, and how these destructive storms have influenced the
region's history, from the rise of plantations, to slavery and its
abolition, to migrations, racial conflict, and war.
Taking readers from the voyages of Columbus to the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, Schwartz looks at the ethical, political, and
economic challenges that hurricanes posed to the Caribbean's indigenous
populations and the different European peoples who ventured to the New
World to exploit its riches. He describes how the United States provided
the model for responding to environmental threats when it emerged as a
major power and began to exert its influence over the Caribbean in the
nineteenth century, and how the region's governments came to assume
greater responsibilities for prevention and relief, efforts that by the
end of the twentieth century were being questioned by free-market
neoliberals. Schwartz sheds light on catastrophes like Katrina by
framing them within a long and contentious history of human interaction
with the natural world.
Spanning more than five centuries and drawing on extensive archival
research in Europe and the Americas, Sea of Storms emphasizes the
continuing role of race, social inequality, and economic ideology in the
shaping of our responses to natural disaster.
