Description:
- It's the first "hurricane history" of New Orleans
- It covers all three of the city's historical eras: French (1718-1762), Spanish (1762-1800) and American (1803-present) based on primary sources
- It features the first comprehensive history of the New Orleans levees from the French colonial period (including the knowledge transfer from France) to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, using French and Spanish colonial records, as well as primary sources from the American period
- It combines climate, environmental, social, and economic history
- It shows how long-term historical processes are linked to and relevant for the present and future
Brief description:
Eleonora Rohland holds a doctorate from the Ruhr-University Bochum. She is full Professor at Bielefeld University and the author of Entangled History and the Environment? Socio-Environmental Transformations in the Caribbean, 1492-1800 (WVT/ University of New Orleans Press, 2021) and of Sharing the Risk: Fire, Climate, and Disaster--Swiss Re 1864-1906 (Crucible Books, 2011).
Review Quotes:
"As New Orleans celebrates its tricentennial, this book would be a great read for the history enthusiast, or anyone wanting to better understand the social, political, and technical ways in which the Crescent City has endured for more than 300 years." - Choice
"It should be noted that Rohland has presented with Changes in the Air a well-articulated and argued study that, for the first time, presents the history of the hurricanes of New Orleans systematically in its three hundred years of development. Rohland's study is significant well beyond the space of New Orleans and the temporary phenomena of hurricanes: The author very vividly conveys a structural, historical understanding for continuities, ruptures and changes in disaster adaptation practices in the Anthropocene." - Neue Politische Literatur
"In her compelling book, Dr. Eleonora Rohland blends history with social science analysis to make a superb contribution to scholarship on hurricanes, environmental history, and American history." - Joyce Chaplin, Harvard University
"Rohland's work is a deeply researched and persuasively argued exploration of the essential role of historical scholarship in understanding long-term human adaptation to changing environments. It transcends the boundaries of environmental history and presents powerful insights into current issues related to global change." - Craig E. Colten, Louisiana State University