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Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Author:
Clarke, Lee
Published:
University of Chicago Press 2021
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
ISBN:
9780226108605
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct.



We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should.



A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.
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Subjects
Subjects
Politics
Sociology
Nonfiction
More Details
Street Date:
04/02/2021
Language:
English
ASIN:
B005CGH280
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Lee Clarke. (2021). Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination. University of Chicago Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Lee Clarke. 2021. Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination. University of Chicago Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Lee Clarke, Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination. University of Chicago Press, 2021.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Lee Clarke. Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination. University of Chicago Press, 2021.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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eaa18d4c-d30a-e965-6ca0-f205a7c7c0be
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Date Added:
Mar 20, 2013 13:48:42
Date Updated:
Dec 16, 2023 06:33:56
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Apr 20, 2024 21:57:13
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        Lee Clarke is a sociologist at Rutgers University. He is the author of Mission Improbable: Using Fantasy Documents to Tame Disaster, published by the University of Chicago Press, and Acceptable Risk? Making Decisions in a Toxic Environment. He is also the editor of Terrorism and Disaster: New Threats, New Ideas.

      • name: Lee Clarke
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title
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fullDescription
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct.

We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should.

A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.
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shortDescription
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct.

We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the...
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tableOfContents
Preface
1 Worst Cases: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
2 The Sky Could Be Falling: Globally Relevant Disasters and the Perils of Probabilism
3 What's the Worst That Can Happen?
4 Power, Politics, and Panic in Worst Cases
5 Silver Linings: The Good from the Worst
6 Living and Dying in Worst Case Worlds
Notes
Index
bisacCodes
      • code: POL028000
      • description: Political Science / Public Policy / General
      • code: SOC000000
      • description: Social Science / General
      • code: SOC040000
      • description: Social Science / Disasters & Disaster Relief