Description
“Supremely well told: a fine exception to the dull run of most geological writing.” starred Kirkus Review (Kirkus Review (starred review) )
“Winchester once again demonstrates a keen knack for balancing rich and often rigorous historical detail with dramatic tension and storytelling.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )
“A good read.” (Washington Post Book World )
“Masterful build-up of literary and geological tension.” (The Economist )
“A real-life story bigger than any Hollywood blockbuster.” (Entertainment Weekly )
“Winchester...is noted for his ability to turn scholarly history into engrossing narrative.” (Chicago Sun-Times )
“Winchester’s exceptional attention to detail never falters.” (San Francisco Chronicle )
“Winchester scores.” (byline Baltimore Sun, printed in Pittsburg Post-Gazette) (Baltimore Sun )
“Winchester dramatically delivers...the book is absorbing...” (Daily News )
“A rattling good read.” (Boston Sunday Globe )
“Krakatoa is a pleasure from beginning to end.” (Boston Sunday Globe )
“The rich and fascinating KRAKATOA confirms [Winchester’s] preeminence. Janet Maslin (International Herald Tribune ) --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Présentation de l'éditeur
The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa -- the name has since become a by-word for a cataclysmic disaster -- was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event which has only very recently become properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round the world for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of lght. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogota and Washington went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away.
Most significantly of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-western militancy by fundamentalist Muslims, one of the first eruptions of Islamic killings anywhere. Simon Winchester's long experience in world wandering, history and geology give this fascinating and iconic event an entirely new life and perspective.
