Name: Vesuvius

Author: Gillian Darley
Year: 2011
Rank:

Rating:

Original Rating:

Pop Rating:

Genres/categories:
History

Purchase/reserch links:
Goodreads
 Volcanoes around the world have their own legends, and many have wrought terrible devastation, but none has caught the imagination like Vesuvius. We now know that immense eruptions destroyed Bronze Age settlements around Vesuvius, but the Romans knew nothing of those disasters and were lulled into complacency much as we are today by its long period of inactivity. None of the nearly thirty eruptions since AD 79 has matched the infamous cataclysm that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum within hours. Nearly two thousand years later, the allure of the volcano remains as evidenced by its popularity as a tourist attraction, from Shelley and the Romantics to modern-day visitors.

Vesuvius has loomed large throughout history, both feared and celebrated. Gillian Darley unveils the human responses to Vesuvius from a cast of characters as far-flung as Pliny the Younger and Andy Warhol, revealing shifts over time. This cultural and scientific meditation on a powerful natural wonder touches on pagan religious beliefs, vulcanology, and travel writing. Sifting through the ashes of Vesuvius, Darley exposes how changes in our relationship to the volcano mirror changes in our understanding of our cultural and natural environments."
This book is part of the "Wonders of the World" series. Here are some other books from this series:
"Piazza San Marco"
First published in 2009
Rank:
, Original star rating:
, Adjusted star rating:
, Pop rating:
"The Tomb of Agamemnon"
Rank:
, Original star rating:
, Adjusted star rating:
, Pop rating:


Categories:
Science fiction
Fantasy
Mystery
Romance
Business
Classic
Sports
Young adult
Humor
Memoirs
See all categories...