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Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean, 1624-1783

ISBN-13: 9780801890796
Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
By Matthew Mulcahy
Price: AUD $67.99
Stock: 0 in stock
Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 14/10/2008
Format: Paperback 272 pages Weight: 0g
Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]

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Hurricanes created unique challenges for the colonists in the British Greater Caribbean during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These storms were entirely new to European settlers and quickly became the most feared part of their physical environment, destroying staple crops and provisions, leveling plantations and towns, disrupting shipping and trade, and resulting in major economic losses for planters and widespread privation for slaves. In this study, Matthew Mulcahy examines how colonists made sense of hurricanes, how they recovered from them, and the role of the storms in shaping the development of the region's colonial settlements. Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean, 1624--1783 provides a useful new perspective on several topics including colonial science, the plantation economy, slavery, and public and private charity. By integrating the West Indies into the larger story of British Atlantic colonization, Mulcahy's work contributes to early American history, Atlantic history, environmental history, and the growing field of disaster studies.

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Melancholy and Fatal Calamities1. Encountering Hurricanes2. ""A Conspiracy of the Winds""3. Weathering the Storms4. Chaotic and Scarce Times5. Building for Disaster6. Sympathy in Distress7. The Politics of Public ReliefConclusion: Beyond 1783AppendixNotesEssay on SourcesIndex

""Mulcahy certainly takes his place in the growing field of environmental history with this useful and intriguing study, which should prove of value to scholars in a wide variety of fields ranging from environmental history, Caribbean studies, cultural and intellectual history, to economic and colonial histories. Well-written and concise, yet possessed of sufficient depth to engender future research projects, Hurricanes and Society is a worthy contribution to its field.""

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Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean, 1624-1783