Perils of Progress
Environmental Disasters in the 20th Century
Published on 30. April 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-0-13-603802-3 (ISBN)
Description
This CourseSmart Sampler includes a selection of material from the full book for faculty to use in order to make a textbook selection for their course. If you need to see additional chapters before making a final decision, please contact your Pearson sales representative for a print copy.
More details
Person
Dr. Andrew Jenks, an associate professor of history at California State University Long Beach, is a specialist in Russian history, history of technology, and environmental history. In addition to publishing numerous articles in scholarly publications on a range of topics, he has authored a book on Russian national identity, Russia in a Box: Art and Identity in an Age of Revolution, Northern Illinois University Press, and is currently finishing a biography of the world's first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling: Yuri Gagarin and the Many Faces of Modern Russia, Northern Illinois University Press. Before receiving his Ph.D. in Russian history and history of technology from Stanford University in 2002, Jenks worked in the 1990s as a journalist and editor in Washington, D.C., where he covered NASA, EPA, secret military high-tech programs, and the emerging Internet business. He studied Russian language at the Pushkin Russian Language Institute in Moscow in the late 1980s, where he also worked as a translator in the Moscow CNN office. He also worked for six months on Soviet fishing boats in the Bering Sea.
Content
FOREWORD
SERIES EDITOR'S PREFACE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: The Perils of Progress
Modernity's Pollution Problems
Methodology
The Four Horsemen of the Toxic Apocalypse
Common Themes to Consider
The Blame Game
Conspiracy Theory and Historical Amnesia
The Moral Dimension
1 The Minamata Disaster and the True Costs of Japanese Modernization
Chisso Corporation
Disturbing Signs
Political and Cultural Obstacles
Lifting the Veil of Silence
The Battle Rejoined
Atomic Bombs, Godzilla, and the Culture of Victimization
Seeking Justice Outside the Courts
The Uniqueness of the Japanese Case
Minamata as a Global Event
The Appeal to Emotion
A New Way to Calculate Progress
A Lingering Toxicity
SOURCES
Struggling with the Disease
"Those who remain are like embers."
T he Confrontation at Goi
"Let a feather drop onto their heads...."
The Chisso Corporations Defends Itself
2 Love Canal and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The Unspoken Bargain
The Bargain Re-evaluated
Reports of Mysterious Substances
Science in the Service of the State
Long Term Social and Political Effects
"Revitalizing" the Community
SOURCES
A Child's Death
A Curious Tax Audit
Passing the Buck
And Who Was Responsible?
3 The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Perfect Storm of Injustice
India, Union Carbide, and the Green Revolution
Complacency
Corporate and Popular Responses
Finger Pointing
The Legal Drama
A Silver Lining?
The Disaster Industry
SOURCES
Profit at All Costs?
Robert A. Peck, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State, responds to questions from the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
Ronald Wisehart, vice president for Government Relations, Union Carbide Corp., responds to questions from the committee.
Safety First?
4 The Techno-Politics of Disaster: Chernobyl and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Anatomy of an Accident
Political Fallout and Historical Context
Evacuation
The Blame Game
Toward an Explanation
Casualties and Health Consequences
Chernobyl after Chernobyl
SOURCES
"Television Address by Mikhail Gorbachev, 14 May 1986, Moscow"
The Western Nuclear-Power Industry Reacts
The Myth of Chernobyl?
Victims and Heroes: Voices from Chernobyl
EPILOGUE: MAKING CONNECTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
SERIES EDITOR'S PREFACE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: The Perils of Progress
Modernity's Pollution Problems
Methodology
The Four Horsemen of the Toxic Apocalypse
Common Themes to Consider
The Blame Game
Conspiracy Theory and Historical Amnesia
The Moral Dimension
1 The Minamata Disaster and the True Costs of Japanese Modernization
Chisso Corporation
Disturbing Signs
Political and Cultural Obstacles
Lifting the Veil of Silence
The Battle Rejoined
Atomic Bombs, Godzilla, and the Culture of Victimization
Seeking Justice Outside the Courts
The Uniqueness of the Japanese Case
Minamata as a Global Event
The Appeal to Emotion
A New Way to Calculate Progress
A Lingering Toxicity
SOURCES
Struggling with the Disease
"Those who remain are like embers."
T he Confrontation at Goi
"Let a feather drop onto their heads...."
The Chisso Corporations Defends Itself
2 Love Canal and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The Unspoken Bargain
The Bargain Re-evaluated
Reports of Mysterious Substances
Science in the Service of the State
Long Term Social and Political Effects
"Revitalizing" the Community
SOURCES
A Child's Death
A Curious Tax Audit
Passing the Buck
And Who Was Responsible?
3 The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Perfect Storm of Injustice
India, Union Carbide, and the Green Revolution
Complacency
Corporate and Popular Responses
Finger Pointing
The Legal Drama
A Silver Lining?
The Disaster Industry
SOURCES
Profit at All Costs?
Robert A. Peck, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State, responds to questions from the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
Ronald Wisehart, vice president for Government Relations, Union Carbide Corp., responds to questions from the committee.
Safety First?
4 The Techno-Politics of Disaster: Chernobyl and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Anatomy of an Accident
Political Fallout and Historical Context
Evacuation
The Blame Game
Toward an Explanation
Casualties and Health Consequences
Chernobyl after Chernobyl
SOURCES
"Television Address by Mikhail Gorbachev, 14 May 1986, Moscow"
The Western Nuclear-Power Industry Reacts
The Myth of Chernobyl?
Victims and Heroes: Voices from Chernobyl
EPILOGUE: MAKING CONNECTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX