An intriguing sidelight on the effects of climate change.
A panoramic overview of the wide-ranging social and political effects of a climatic catastrophe.
Historian William Klingaman (Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 2001, etc.) and meteorologist Nicholas P. Klingaman join forces to document the atmospheric pollution from the massive eruption of an Indonesian volcano, Mount Tambora, in 1815. Black ash spread over nearby villages, and a cloud of sulfuric acid first moved over the Indian subcontinent and China and then spread to North America and Europe the following year, with disastrous consequences. Abnormally cold temperatures, respiratory problems, disease and crop failure followed in its wake. The authors begin their detailed account of the volcano in the winter of 1815–1816 as the aerosol cloud cooled temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. The consequences were devastating because of crop damage and ensuing famine, most notably in Ireland but also in France and England and, to a lesser degree, on the Eastern Seaboard in America. Heavy snows in winter were followed by unusually volatile weather that affected crops adversely; a cold summer with barely any sunlight was worse. European grain stores were already depleted as a result of the Napoleonic wars, and commerce was disrupted by the transition from a war economy to peacetime. The Klingamans document the famine and social unrest that followed over the following year. At the same time, many lives were relatively untouched by the calamity—not only monarchs and the politicians who wrestled with problems of poor relief, but also Jane Austen and poets such as Byron and Shelley. One long-term result of the volcanic eruption was the increase in emigration to the U.S. and of more marginal American farmers westward.
An intriguing sidelight on the effects of climate change.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-312-67645-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
HISTORY | NATURE | MODERN | GENERAL HISTORY
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Chronology, photographs and personal knowledge combine to make a memorable commemorative presentation.
Jackie Kennedy's secret service agent Hill and co-author McCubbin team up for a follow-up to Mrs. Kennedy and Me (2012) in this well-illustrated narrative of those five days 50 years ago when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Since Hill was part of the secret service detail assigned to protect the president and his wife, his firsthand account of those days is unique. The chronological approach, beginning before the presidential party even left the nation's capital on Nov. 21, shows Kennedy promoting his “New Frontier” policy and how he was received by Texans in San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth before his arrival in Dallas. A crowd of more than 8,000 greeted him in Houston, and thousands more waited until 11 p.m. to greet the president at his stop in Fort Worth. Photographs highlight the enthusiasm of those who came to the airports and the routes the motorcades followed on that first day. At the Houston Coliseum, Kennedy addressed the leaders who were building NASA for the planned moon landing he had initiated. Hostile ads and flyers circulated in Dallas, but the president and his wife stopped their motorcade to respond to schoolchildren who held up a banner asking the president to stop and shake their hands. Hill recounts how, after Lee Harvey Oswald fired his fatal shots, he jumped onto the back of the presidential limousine. He was present at Parkland Hospital, where the president was declared dead, and on the plane when Lyndon Johnson was sworn in. Hill also reports the funeral procession and the ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. “[Kennedy] would have not wanted his legacy, fifty years later, to be a debate about the details of his death,” writes the author. “Rather, he would want people to focus on the values and ideals in which he so passionately believed.”
Chronology, photographs and personal knowledge combine to make a memorable commemorative presentation.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4767-3149-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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