文档介绍：ACTS
of GOD
Also by Ted Steinberg
Slide Mountain, Or the Folly of Owning Nature
Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the
Waters of New England
ACTS
of GOD
The Unnatural
History of
Natural Disaster
in America
TED STEINBERG
3
2000
3
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2000 by Ted Steinberg
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Portions of chapter six were previously published in Literature and Medicine 15, no. 1 (Spring 1996);
a version of chapter three was previously published in Environmental History 2, no. 4 (Oct. 1997).
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
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Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For the little big men in my life
Nathan and Harry
There are many scapegoats for our blunders, but the
most popular one is Providence.
Mark Twain
We do not see our hand in what happens, so we call
certain events melancholy accidents when they are the
inevitabilities of our projects.
Stanley Cavell
CONTENTS
Preface xi
Introduction • Hometown Blues xv
I
RETURN OF THE SUPPRESSED
One • Last Call for Judgment Day 3
Two • Disaster as Archetype 25
Three • Do-It-Yourself Deathscape 47
Interlude • Body Counting 69
II
FEDERALIZING RISK
Four • Building for Apocalypse 79
Five • Uncle Sam—Floodplain Recidivist 97
Interlude • The