The volcano that has fascinated scientists, writers, and poets for two
millennia
Capricious, vibrant, and volatile, Vesuvius has been and remains one of
the world's most dangerous volcanoes. In its rage, it has destroyed
whole cities and buried thousands alive. In its calm, its ashes have
fertilized the soil, providing for the people who have lived in its
shadows. For over two millennia, the dynamic presence of this volcano
has fascinated scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers, and inspired
religious fervor, Roman architecture, and Western literature. In
Vesuvius, Alwyn Scarth draws from the latest research, classical and
eyewitness accounts, and a diverse range of other sources to tell the
riveting story of this spectacular natural phenomenon.
Scarth follows Vesuvius across time, examining the volcano's destruction
of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D., its eruptions during the
Counter-Reformation that were viewed as God's punishment of sinners, and
the building of the world's first volcano observatory on Vesuvius in the
1840s. Scarth explores the volcano's current position overlooking a
population of more than three million people and the complex attitudes
maintained by the residents, at once reverent, protective, and fearful.
He also considers the next major eruption of Vesuvius, which experts
have indicated could be the most powerful since 1631. The longer
Vesuvius remains dormant, the more violent its reawakening will be, and
despite scientific advances for predicting when this might occur, more
people are vulnerable than ever before.
Exploring this celebrated wonder from scientific, historical, and
cultural perspectives, Vesuvius provides a colorful portrait of a
formidable force of nature.
