Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded
Language: English
Published by HarperCollins, 2003
- First Edition
- Signed
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Remarks Used Books, Pittsfield, MA, U.S.A.Remarks Used Books
AbeBooks seller since March 30, 2012
Condition: Used - As new
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First U.S. Edition, 1st printing. Signed by the author & inscribed to the bookseller on the title page. Bright, clean & tight copy, unread, in As New condition. "The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa--the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster--was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round the planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. 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. [] Simon Winchester's long experience in the world wandering as well as his knowledge of history and geology give us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event as he brings it tellingly back to life." [jacket copy] "Brilliant. One of the best books ever written about the history and significance of a natural disaster."--The New York Times. "Winchester once again demonstrates a keen knack for balancing rich and often rigorous historical detail with dramatic tension and storytelling."--Publishers Weekly. Pristine hardcover w/brilliant corners & crisp edges, a square & tight binding, wrapped in a bright-as-new, intact partial jacket. Quite presentable.…
Seller Inventory # RUB3321
- Title
- Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded
- Author
- Simon Winchester
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Publication year
- 2003
- Condition
- As New
- Dust jacket
- As New
- Signed
- Signed by Author(s)
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0066212855
- ISBN 13
- 9780066212852
- Edition
- 1st Edition
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Winchester veers between eyewitness accounts by survivors and the limited scientific measurements of the time in an attempt to describe the indescribable. The event "is still said to be the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man", he writes. "Six cubic miles of rock had been blasted out of existence, had been turned into pumice and ash and uncountable billions of particles of dust." Yet words and numbers can barely hint at the scale of the calamity, which resulted in tsunamis that washed whole villages into the ocean and forever changed the very topography of the area.
The author also explores the social and cultural topography, noting that "Orthodox Islam, its revival in part triggered by tragic events such as the great cataclysm, was totally transformed in Java during the nineteenth century, with fundamentalism, militancy and profound hostility to non-Muslims its watchwords". At times Winchester seems to overstate his case, and the link he finds between Krakatoa and the rise of anti-Western sentiment in the Islamic world isn't especially convincing. But by weaving together the disaster with science, communications, politics, religion and economics, he has come up with a comprehensive and often fascinating glimpse into the way the world, and our perception of it, can change in an instant. --Shawn Conner, Amazon.ca
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Remarks Used Books
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