Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Bad things can happen to people through no fault of their own?as those harmed recently by hurricanes Harvey and Irma know all too well. Whether natural or manmade, disasters have long enthralled young readers. Examining Disasters, a well-reviewed series of eight books from Clara House Books, an imprint of The Oliver Press, explores the science behind disasters. What, for example, causes airplanes to fall from the sky, or bridges to collapse, or ships to sink? For explanations, we must look to physics. It is through the study of geology that we learn how earthquakes occur. Pandemics, such as SARS or the outbreak of Ebola, affect the lives of millions. Biology, and microbiology in particular, holds the answers to how diseases are spread and how they may be prevented. Colorfully illustrated and attractively designed, Examining Disasters will grab the attention of young readers while providing the basis of scientific inquiry that the core curriculum demands.

Hurricanes have been a constant in the history of New Orleans. Since before its settlement as a French colony in the eighteenth century, the land entwined between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River has been lashed by powerful Gulf storms. Time and again, these hurricanes have wrought immeasurable loss and devastation, spurring reinvention and ingenuity on the part of inhabitants. Changes in the Air offers a rich and thoroughly researched history of how hurricanes have shaped and reshaped New Orleans from the colonial era to the present day, focusing on how its residents have adapted to a uniquely unpredictable and destructive environment across more than three centuries.

Examines how scientists study hurricanes. With colorful spreads featuring fun facts, sidebars, a disaster preparedness checklist, and a "How It Works" feature, this book provides an exciting look at the science of disaster detection.

"Provides a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the important role of science in landscape restoration and community recovery"--Provided by publisher.

This reference traces the region's 400-year recorded hurricane history, from Jamestown to the present, drawing on accounts in newspaper articles, books, private journals, and interviews. Emphasizing the human side of a hurricane's aftermath rather than scientific aspects, each hurricane account tells how individuals and communities reacted to the storms. Storms are profiled in year-by-year entries from the 1600's to the current century.

Hurricanes of the Gulf of Mexico presents a comprehensive history and analysis of the hurricanes that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico from the 1800s to the present, reporting each hurricane's point of origin, oceanic and atmospheric influences, track, size, intensity, point of landfall, storm surge, and impact on life and the environment. Additional information describes the unique features of the Gulf that influence the development of hurricanes, and the problems of predicting hurricane activity in the coming years. Hurricanes of the Gulf of Mexico is illustrated with 52 photographs, 44 maps, and 15 charts, plus tables and graphs.

Winner of the Bancroft Prize Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Book of the Year “The main thrust of Horowitz’s account is to make us understand Katrina—the civic calamity, not the storm itself—as a consequence of decades of bad decisions by humans, not an unanticipated caprice of nature.” —Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, but the decisions that caused the disaster can be traced back nearly a century. After the city weathered a major hurricane in 1915, its Sewerage and Water Board believed that developers could safely build housing near the Mississippi, on lowlands that relied on significant government subsidies to stay dry. When the flawed levee system failed, these were the neighborhoods that were devastated. The flood line tells one important story about Katrina, but it is not the only story that matters. Andy Horowitz investigates the response to the flood, when policymakers made it easier for white New Orleanians to return home than for African Americans. He explores how the profits and liabilities created by Louisiana’s oil industry have been distributed unevenly, prompting dreams of abundance and a catastrophic land loss crisis that continues today. “Masterful...Disasters have the power to reveal who we are, what we value, what we’re willing—and unwilling—to protect.” —New York Review of Books “If you want to read only one book to better understand why people in positions of power in government and industry do so little to address climate change, even with wildfires burning and ice caps melting and extinctions becoming a daily occurrence, this is the one.” —Los Angeles Review of Books