Catastrophes and Heroes: True Stories of Man-Made Disasters
Catastrophes and Disasters
by Jerry Borrowman
Edition: ARC, 2020
Synopsis: Sometimes we are the authors of our own disasters
Catastrophes and Heroes takes a close look at eight man-made disasters that span nearly a century, from the boiler failure and subsequent sinking of the Civil War-era steamship Sultana to the completely avoidable landslide that overtopped the Vajont Dam in Italy in 1963, destroying the towns below and rendering the dam inoperable. Some were honest mistakes, some were the result of overconfidence, hubris, or greed. Some were even the result of planned malice.
In all these stories, both heroes and villains emerged. Some heroes sought out the wounded or dead, and some heroes did the difficult, tedious labor of investigating the disasters and guarding against similar events ever happening again. Villains emerged as well, from self-taught engineers who built dams without a firm grasp on the principles involved, to greedy quartermasters who saw money to be made by exploiting recently released prisoners of war. In Catastrophes and Heroes, author Jerry Borrowman gives us a view of the extremes of human behavior and what is revealed when things go horribly wrong.
The industrial era brought many advancements to the world. But with progress comes the risk for things to go horribly wrong. Here is a collection of eight man-made disasters that could have been avoided.
Of the disasters contained in this book, I was only really aware of the one: the 1865 steamship Sultana catastrophe. Even then, I only knew it had happened and not the circumstances surrounding it. With each disaster, the author outlines who the victims were, why it happened, the heroes who tried to help, and the good that came from the situation.
The author narrows down three causes for the eight disasters he outlines: malice (sabotage to a high-speed train in 1939), greed (the Sultana and 1963’s Vajont Dam in Italy), and finally hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence) for the other five stories. I would say all of them come down to someone having a gross lack of respect for human life.
Since I read an advance reader copy, I did not see the pictures that will be included in the final version. These, I think, will add something more to the book, and I look forward to seeing these when the book releases. For readers looking for a sobering look at real-life tragedies, I would recommend this.
I received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own.
