William R. Freudenburg

Ted I. K. Youn

From the de-institutionalization of psychiatric hospitals to the privatization of prisons, the dramatic public policy changes of the last three decades have been, to a large extent, changes in organization. The chapters in this volume examine these organizational changes.

The Organizational Response to Social Problems

Kai Erikson

Shirley Laska

Robert B. Gramling

When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to “natural disasters” or “acts of God.” But what if they’re neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves? That’s the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first book to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a “perfect storm,” but a tragedy of our own making—and one that could become commonplace. The authors, one a longtime New Orleans resident, argue that breached levees and sloppy emergency response are just the most obvious examples of government failure. The true problem is more deeply rooted and insidious, and stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast. Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of “economic development” at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building—quite literally—toward similar destruction. Too often, the U.S. “growth machine” generates wealth for a few and misery for many. Drawing lessons from the most expensive “natural” disaster in American history, Catastrophe in the Making shows why thoughtless development comes at a price we can ill afford.

The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow

Catastrophe in the Making

Robert Wilkinson

Soon after the first Earth Day in 1970, the academic world saw a virtual explosion of new, interdisciplinary 'environmental' programs, many of which took explicit note for the first time of the fact that 'environmental' problems are inherently social problems as well. Even in the new programs, however, issues of equity and the environment were usually relegated to isolated classes on environmental ethics. Today, they still are.

Equity and the Environment

Robert Gramling

The story of how a chain of failures, missteps, and bad decisions led to America's biggest environmental disaster. On April 20, 2010, the gigantic drilling rig Deepwater Horizon blew up in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven crew members and causing a massive eruption of oil from BP's Macondo well. For months, oil gushed into the Gulf, spreading death and destruction. Americans watched real-time video of the huge column of oil and gas spewing from the obviously failed “blowout preventer.” What was missing, though, was the larger story of this disaster. In Blowout in the Gulf, energy experts William Freudenburg and Robert Gramling explain both the disaster and the decisions that led up to it. Blowout in the Gulf weaves a fascinating narrative of failures, missteps, and bad decisions, explaining why this oil spill was a disaster waiting to happen—and how making better energy choices will help prevent others like it.

William R. Freudenburg

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