Great Disasters

On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started on the south side of Chicago. A long drought made the neighborhood go up in flames. And practically everything that could go wrong did. Firemen first went to the wrong location. Fierce winds helped the blaze jump the Chicago River twice. The Chicago Waterworks burned down, making it impossible to fight the fire. Finally after two days, Mother Nature took over, with rain smothering the flames. This overview of a stupendous disaster not only covers the fire but explores the whole history of fire fighting.

An unusually warm winter day resulted in 2.3 million gallons of molasses flooding the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The disaster killed twenty-one people and injured 150 others. Rescue missions were launched to save people from the sticky and deadly mess, led by the Red Cross, the Army, the Navy, and the Massachusetts Nautical School. With the help of hundreds of volunteers over the course of several weeks, the streets were cleaned up. But the smell of molasses and the horror of the preventable tragedy lingered for decades to come.

Whitney Balliett's magnificent essay on the Great Hurricane of 1938 appeared in The New Yorker fifty years after the event.

With the coming of the Great Flood - the mother of all disasters - only one family was spared, drifting on an endless sea, waiting for the waters to subside. We know the story of Noah, moved by divine vision to launch their escape. Now, in a work of astounding invention, acclaimed writer Sarah Blake reclaims the story of his wife, Naamah, the matriarch who kept them alive.

If you were forced to evacuate during a disaster, you’d likely need dozens of tools and supplies to make it out safely. Problem is, too many people get it wrong - even the experts - because they focus on the wrong gear and supplies for the situation. Join Damian Brindle as he lays out dozens of essential items you simply must have in your bug out bag if you live anywhere near the suburbs, or worse, a major city. Your bug out bag is a crucial piece of survival equipment, but if you have the wrong gear and supplies, it's almost as bad as having nothing at all.

On an August night in 1893, the deadliest hurricane in South Carolina history struck the Lowcountry, killing thousands—almost all African American. But the devastating storm is only the beginning of this story. The hurricane's long effects intermingled with ongoing processes of economic downturn, racial oppression, resistance, and environmental change. In the Lowcountry, the political, economic, and social conditions of Jim Crow were inextricable from its environmental dimensions.