Unlike technological catastrophes - like train wrecks or nuclear meltdowns - many natural disasters appear to be random and outside human control. In this course we question that assumption by exploring the "unnatural" history of natural disasters through the history of fires, diseases, floods, and hurricanes in North America. We will examine the material causes of "natural disasters" and analyze how Americans have been affected differently according to their race, class ethnicity, and gender. In addition to understanding the human experience, we will explore how popular culture has imagined natural disaster in the course of the History of the United States.
By the end of the course we will have examined some of America's largest "natural disasters" in their historical contexts, and we will use this knowledge to think about disasters that Americans might face now and in the future.
