Buy this book : Heat Wave. On Thursday, July 13, , Chicagoans awoke to a blistering day in which the temperature would reach degrees.
The heat index, which measures how the temperature actually feels on the body, would hit degrees by the time the day was over. Meteorologists had been warning residents about a two-day heat wave, but these temperatures did not end that soon. When the heat wave broke a week later, city streets had buckled; the records for electrical use were shattered; and power grids had failed, leaving residents without electricity for up to two days.
And by July 20, over seven hundred people had perished-more than twice the number that died in the Chicago Fire of , twenty times the number of those struck by Hurricane Andrew in —in the great Chicago heat wave, one of the deadliest in American history. Heat waves in the United States kill more people during a typical year than all other natural disasters combined.
Until now, no one could explain either the overwhelming number or the heartbreaking manner of the deaths resulting from the Chicago heat wave.
In Heat Wave , Eric Klinenberg takes us inside the anatomy of the metropolis to conduct what he calls a "social autopsy," examining the social, political, and institutional organs of the city that made this urban disaster so much worse than it ought to have been.
Starting with the question of why so many people died at home alone, Klinenberg investigates why some neighborhoods experienced greater mortality than others, how the city government responded to the crisis, and how journalists, scientists, and public officials reported on and explained these events. Through a combination of years of fieldwork, extensive interviews, and archival research, Klinenberg uncovers how a number of surprising and unsettling forms of social breakdown—including the literal and social isolation of seniors, the institutional abandonment of poor neighborhoods, and the retrenchment of public assistance programs—contributed to the high fatality rates.
The human catastrophe, he argues, cannot simply be blamed on the failures of any particular individuals or organizations. For when hundreds of people die behind locked doors and sealed windows, out of contact with friends, family, community groups, and public agencies, everyone is implicated in their demise.
As Klinenberg demonstrates in this incisive and gripping account of the contemporary urban condition, the widening cracks in the social foundations of American cities that the Chicago heat wave made visible have by no means subsided as the temperatures returned to normal.
For the Second Edition Klinenberg has added a new Preface showing how climate change has made extreme weather events in urban centers a major challenge for cities and nations across our planet, one that will require commitment to climate-proofing changes to infrastructure rather than just relief responses.
Reviews "By the end of Heat Wave , Klinenberg has traced the lines of culpability in dozens of directions, drawing a dense and subtle portrait of exactly what happened during that week in July. Given that most of the field work has been con- ducted in major cities in United States, the book studies the urban part of the singletons galaxy, which is here described as being a generational, social, and racial mix.
Klinenberg also made a fieldwork in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Moreover, he enlightens the U. It is through the stages of the life cycle he explores the economical, political, and generational aspects of these matters. This experience that could explain the inclination to wish to prolong it by living on his own is part of a much broader process of individualization of life.
At a societal level, the social pressure on women to have children while politicians raise the specter of the decline of marriage is not the least of the difficulties faced by young singletons. This is what is happening to the singletons when they start their life. Then may come the time of undoing and of rebuilding their life. For those who are not going down that path, it remains for them to re learn how to live on their own.
The persons who experience these difficulties are relatively unexplored in this book. That is why the question whether to what extent precariousness prevents going solo remains an outstanding issue.
That is why he stresses that solitude and social isolation remain concrete realities for many people. Connected to the socioeconomic conditions of the individuals, these disparities are to some extent responsible for the difficulties that encounter the movements for the construction of a collective identity, which would be based on this condition.
This process does not prevent the commercial sphere to create specific products to suit the needs of singletons. As a conscientious sociologist concerned to establish truth, Klinenberg clearly expresses his opposition to this discourse that seems to him so far from reality. Klinenberg had the courage to confront these indispensable realities of life cycle: solitude and death.
Jan 05, Wavee B. Listen to an interview on Fresh Air. The heat index, which measures how the temperature actually feels on the body, would hit degrees by the time the day was over. I had to buy this for school but i really enjoyed reading the book. On Thursday, July 13,Chicagoans awoke to a blistering day in which the temperature would reach degrees. Yet they hardly generate the kind of buzz that hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, or wildfires do.
News Organizations and the Representation of Catastrophe Conclusion: An interesting look at the heat wave that killed hundreds of Chicago residents. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Nov 17, Emily rated it really liked it Shelves: He also looks at how the city handled the public relations of the disaster, as well as the ho An interesting look at the heat wave that killed hundreds of Chicago residents.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website.
These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
0コメント