Description
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.
About the Author
Matthew Mulcahy is associate professor and chair of the history department at Loyola College in Maryland.
Reviews
A rich and engaging study. Readers of Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean will add hurricanes to the list of characteristics that define the early modern Caribbean: sugar, slavery, disease, war. -- Robert Olwell William and Mary Quarterly 2006 An innovative, polished, crisply written book that will peak the interest of scholars even as it appeals to some educated general readers. -- Darcy R. Fryer Georgia Historical Quarterly 2006 In this lucidly written and cogently organized monograph, [Mulcahy] argues that the destruction wrought by hurricanes only acquires meaning in the context of the community that experienced it... A wonderful read and a stimulating piece of scholarship. -- James Alexander Dun Business History Review 2006 A thoughtful consideration of all sorts of issues at the heart of early British American history. -- Michael Guasco H-Atlantic, H-Net Reviews 2006 Will reward almost any reader. Scholars interested in Barbados, Jamaica, or South Carolina will want to have it on their bookshelves. -- J.R. McNeill Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History 2006 A valuable book for anyone who wants to understand the British Greater Caribbean. -- Bradford J. Wood Journal of American History 2007 As the impact of hurricanes challenges contemporary societies, a well-researched volume that considers the uneven development of local adaptive strategies and central aid policies is valuable... A well-written and thought-provoking study. -- James Robertson Historian 2007 Mulcahy's vivid descriptions of Caribbean hurricanes, their impact on colonial economic and social life, and their effects on the larger Atlantic world is a most valuable contribution to the recent number of books on disasters in history. -- Anthony N. Penna Environmental History 2007 Path-breaking and original... Mulcahy has creatively exploited the paper trails left by major seventeenth- and eighteenth-century hurricanes as probes into changing social relations in the British Caribbean. -- James Rodger Fleming American Historical Review 2007 This book will interest not only scholars interested in how past groups have addressed the challenges of new environmental phenomena but also those interested in how people have learned or failed to learn from these events and how many of the fears and misconceptions of the past still shape and distort our views of disasters today. -- Walter Gillis Peacock Hispanic American Historical Review 2007 Intriguing and well-written analysis of the cultural impact of hurricanes in the plantation regions of seventeenth and eighteenth century British America. -- Trevor Burnard Reviews in History 2006 Solid, well-researched study. One hopes that he is just starting a provocative research career dealing with the history of geographical hazards in the Caribbean and adjacent rimland zones. He is certainly off to a promising start. -- Bonham C. Richardson New West Indian Guide 2008 By drawing on the perspectives of disaster studies and environmental history, Mulcahy's work implicitly raises provocative questions for the history of meteorology. -- Deborah R. Coen Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 2010
Book Information
ISBN 9780801890796
Author Matthew Mulcahy
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 431g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 14mm
About the Author
Matthew Mulcahy is associate professor and chair of the history department at Loyola College in Maryland.
Reviews
A rich and engaging study. Readers of Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean will add hurricanes to the list of characteristics that define the early modern Caribbean: sugar, slavery, disease, war. -- Robert Olwell William and Mary Quarterly 2006 An innovative, polished, crisply written book that will peak the interest of scholars even as it appeals to some educated general readers. -- Darcy R. Fryer Georgia Historical Quarterly 2006 In this lucidly written and cogently organized monograph, [Mulcahy] argues that the destruction wrought by hurricanes only acquires meaning in the context of the community that experienced it... A wonderful read and a stimulating piece of scholarship. -- James Alexander Dun Business History Review 2006 A thoughtful consideration of all sorts of issues at the heart of early British American history. -- Michael Guasco H-Atlantic, H-Net Reviews 2006 Will reward almost any reader. Scholars interested in Barbados, Jamaica, or South Carolina will want to have it on their bookshelves. -- J.R. McNeill Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History 2006 A valuable book for anyone who wants to understand the British Greater Caribbean. -- Bradford J. Wood Journal of American History 2007 As the impact of hurricanes challenges contemporary societies, a well-researched volume that considers the uneven development of local adaptive strategies and central aid policies is valuable... A well-written and thought-provoking study. -- James Robertson Historian 2007 Mulcahy's vivid descriptions of Caribbean hurricanes, their impact on colonial economic and social life, and their effects on the larger Atlantic world is a most valuable contribution to the recent number of books on disasters in history. -- Anthony N. Penna Environmental History 2007 Path-breaking and original... Mulcahy has creatively exploited the paper trails left by major seventeenth- and eighteenth-century hurricanes as probes into changing social relations in the British Caribbean. -- James Rodger Fleming American Historical Review 2007 This book will interest not only scholars interested in how past groups have addressed the challenges of new environmental phenomena but also those interested in how people have learned or failed to learn from these events and how many of the fears and misconceptions of the past still shape and distort our views of disasters today. -- Walter Gillis Peacock Hispanic American Historical Review 2007 Intriguing and well-written analysis of the cultural impact of hurricanes in the plantation regions of seventeenth and eighteenth century British America. -- Trevor Burnard Reviews in History 2006 Solid, well-researched study. One hopes that he is just starting a provocative research career dealing with the history of geographical hazards in the Caribbean and adjacent rimland zones. He is certainly off to a promising start. -- Bonham C. Richardson New West Indian Guide 2008 By drawing on the perspectives of disaster studies and environmental history, Mulcahy's work implicitly raises provocative questions for the history of meteorology. -- Deborah R. Coen Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 2010
Book Information
ISBN 9780801890796
Author Matthew Mulcahy
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 431g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 14mm
