Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.)
by: Simon Winchester
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Dewey Decimal Number: 551.2109598
EAN: 9780060838591
ISBN: 0060838590
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: July 01, 2005
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: July 05, 2005
Sales Rank: 38503
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, examines the legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa, which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims, one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere. Krakatoa gives us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Amazon.com Review:
It may seem a stretch to connect a volcanic eruption with civil and religious unrest in Indonesia today, but Simon Winchester makes a compelling case. Krakatoa tells the frightening tale of the biggest volcanic eruption in history using a blend of gentle geology and narrative history. Krakatoa erupted at a time when technologies like the telegraph were becoming commonplace and Asian trade routes were being expanded by northern European companies. This bustling colonial backdrop provides an effective canvas for the suspense leading up to August 27th, 1883, when the nearby island of Krakatoa would violently vaporize. Winchester describes the eruption through the eyes of its survivors, and readers will be as horrified and mesmerized as eyewitnesses were as the death toll reached nearly 40,000 (almost all of whom died from tsunamis generated by the unimaginably strong shock waves of the eruption). Ships were thrown miles inshore, endless rains of hot ash engulfed those towns not drowned by 100 foot waves, and vast rafts of pumice clogged the hot sea. The explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption's shock wave traveled around the world seven times. But the book's biggest surprise is not the riveting catalog of the volcano's effects; rather, it is Winchester's contention that the Dutch abandonment of their Indonesian colonies after the disaster left local survivors to seek comfort in radical Islam, setting the stage for a volatile future for the region. --Therese Littleton
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- A wide-ranging history ...While leading up to the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa, Simon Winchester goes to great lengths ... Read More
Rating:
- Wonderful Writing on a Fascinating SubjectIt is rare that someone combines scientific expertise with great writing talent that takes in, not ... Read More
Rating:
- Excellent bookIn grad school in the early 1980s I had a professor whose lectures unfailingly transported us around ... Read More
Rating:
- Read About a "World Event"In "Krakatoa" author Simon Winchester examines the great explosion of August 27, 1883 from all angles, ... Read More
Rating:
- Winchester misfiresGratuitous slaps at creation science didn't help to positively influence my opinion of this book, but ultimately ... Read More
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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.