Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) Review
The explosion of the volcano at Krakatoa, Java, on August 27, 1883, was loud enough to be heard on Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean 2968 miles away. The eruption was the fifth largest known volcanic explosion in human history, and it caused the greatest loss of life of any known volcanic disaster. More than 40,000 people were killed, mostly by a series of massive tsunamis. One of these waves drove the Dutch gunship Berouw over a mile and a half up a river, killing all aboard.
Simon Winchester tells the story of the disaster from both the historical and geological perspectives. The explosion was not just a geological cataclysm. It was one of the very first truly global news stories, and it marked the beginning of the end of Dutch rule, and the first stirrings of militant Islam in East Asia.
Winchester provides a host of fascinating details as he traces the weeks and days leading up the the explosion, as well as the background of the Dutch presence in Java and the development of plate tectonics, the theory that finally allowed scientists to understand the mechanism of subduction zone volcanoes like Krakatoa.
He also follows the aftermath of the eruption. The island of Krakatoa itself was obliterated in the blast, but a new volcanic island has risen from the sea, and has provided scientists with a natural laboratory to study a rare instance of primary succession.
Winchester does a nice job of mixing the historical and scientific details surrounding this literally Earth-shaking event.
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) Feature
- ISBN13: 9780060838591
- Condition: New
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Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) Overview
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.Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) Specifications
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
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Customer Reviews
Krakatau - Brett -
I teach Erath Science, and this book made the study of tectonics much more interesting, especially in imagining what awaits us, possibly Yellowstone erupting bigger, but especially in understanding what is still going on at the same faultline during our lifetime.
Riveting, Fantastic, Detailed and Informative - V. Agarwal - California US
Taking the book home there was no realization of the fun i was going to get from reading it. Even though in modern times an event that occured more than a century ago does not seem very relevant to be discussed in detail, Winchester weaves a spell over his readers with the potion of his writing, his in-depth knowledge and relentless research. With the description of the history leading up to the Krakatoa explosion the author enchants the curious minds by the events that give a fair glance into the lives of all those affected by the disaster. More importantly the scientific (geological, geographical, anthropological, botanical, zoological...) information in the book is a fun to read. This is quality writing that is extremely engaging and better than any fiction you are likely to buy.
Krakatoa by S. Winchester - Harold B. Dowse -
Simon Winchester's work is uniformly excellent. This is far and away the best discussion of the eruption of Krakatoa out there. When you are done, you will feel as though you must have lived through those times. He covers everything from the paradigm shift of plate tectonics in modern Geology to the rise of Islamist fundamentalism in the area as a result of the oppression of the colonial powers. You will even learn about the developing global communications network's beginnings with intercontinental telegraphy and news services. Not to be missed.
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