Scarth, Alwyn (Author)
Capricious, vibrant, and volatile, Vesuvius has been and remains one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. In its rage, it has destroyed whole cities and buried thousands alive. In its calm, its ashes have fertilized the soil, providing for the people who have lived in its shadows. For over two millennia, the dynamic presence of this volcano has fascinated scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers, and inspired religious fervor, Roman architecture, and Western literature. In Vesuvius, Alwyn Scarth draws from the latest research, classical and eyewitness accounts, and a diverse range of other sources to tell the riveting story of this spectacular natural phenomenon. Scarth follows Vesuvius across time, examining the volcano's destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D., its eruptions during the Counter-Reformation that were viewed as God's punishment of sinners, and the building of the world's first volcano observatory on Vesuvius in the 1840s. Scarth explores the volcano's current position overlooking a population of more than three million people and the complex attitudes maintained by the residents, at once reverent, protective, and fearful. He also considers the next major eruption of Vesuvius, which experts have indicated could be the most powerful since 1631. The longer Vesuvius remains dormant, the more violent its reawakening will be, and despite scientific advances for predicting when this might occur, more people are vulnerable than ever before. Exploring this celebrated wonder from scientific, historical, and cultural perspectives, Vesuvius provides a colorful portrait of a formidable force of nature.Capricious, vibrant, and volatile, Vesuvius has been and remains one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. In its rage, it has destroyed whole cities and buried thousands alive. In its calm, its ashes have fertilized the soil, providing for the people who have lived in its shadows. For over two millennia, the dynamic presence of this volcano has fascinated scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers, and inspired religious fervor, Roman architecture, and Western literature. In Vesuvius, Alwyn Scarth draws from the latest research, classical and eyewitness accounts, and a diverse range of other sources to tell the riveting story of this spectacular natural phenomenon. Scarth follows Vesuvius across time, examining the volcano's destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D., its eruptions during the Counter-Reformation that were viewed as God's punishment of sinners, and the building of the world's first volcano observatory on Vesuvius in the 1840s. Scarth explores the volcano's current position overlooking a population of more than three million people and the complex attitudes maintained by the residents, at once reverent, protective, and fearful. He also considers the next major eruption of Vesuvius, which experts have indicated could be the most powerful since 1631. The longer Vesuvius remains dormant, the more violent its reawakening will be, and despite scientific advances for predicting when this might occur, more people are vulnerable than ever before. Exploring this celebrated wonder from scientific, historical, and cultural perspectives, Vesuvius provides a colorful portrait of a formidable force of nature.
...More
Article
Principe, Claudia;
Annarita Paolillo;
Sonia La Felice;
Simone Arrighi;
(2021)
Forma Vesuvii – 2 - Volcanic morphology at the time of the 79 AD Plinian Eruption
(/isis/citation/CBB048930271/)
Book
Cocco, Sean;
(2012)
Watching Vesuvius: A History of Science and Culture in Early Modern Italy
(/isis/citation/CBB001251291/)
Book
Del Tedesco, Enza;
(2012)
Il "Giornale de’ Letterati d’Italia" trecento anni dopo. Scienza, storia, arte, identità (1710-2010)
(/isis/citation/CBB161313006/)
Article
Genovese, A.;
Cocca, T.;
(2000)
Internal organization of an equine stable at Pompei
(/isis/citation/CBB000111310/)
Book
Jashemski, Wilhelmina Mary Feemster;
Meyer, Frederick G.;
(2002)
The Natural History of Pompeii: A Systematic Survey
(/isis/citation/CBB000302241/)
Article
Wood, Karen;
(2006)
Making and Circulating Knowledge through Sir William Hamilton's Campi Phlegraei
(/isis/citation/CBB000651492/)
Chapter
Nicoletta Brazzelli;
(2022)
Geografie mostruose: Frankenstein, il ghiaccio e il vulcano
(/isis/citation/CBB409477180/)
Book
Belli, Gabriella;
Giacomoni, Paola;
Ottani Cavina, Anna;
(2003)
Montagna: Arte, scienza, mito da Dürer a Warhol
(/isis/citation/CBB000741141/)
Book
Federico Prina;
(2022)
Vulcani. Tra geografia e letteratura
(/isis/citation/CBB040204142/)
Article
Maurizio Erto;
(2017)
'Giocare col fuoco' nel Seicento. Esperimenti e osservazioni naturalistiche nella Solfatara di Pozzuoli
(/isis/citation/CBB764648200/)
Book
Friedrich, Walter L.;
Birney, Alexander R.;
(2000)
Fire in the Sea: The Santorini Volcano: Natural History and the Legend of Atlantis
(/isis/citation/CBB000110976/)
Article
Francesco Luzzini;
(2014)
I fanghi prodigiosi. Gli studi naturalistici sulle salse emiliane
(/isis/citation/CBB858543623/)
Chapter
Candela, A.;
(2009)
On the Earth's Revolutions: Floods and Extinct Volcanoes in Northern Italy at the End of the Eighteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000952225/)
Article
Luigina Vezzoli;
Claudia Principe;
(2020)
Monte Amiata volcano (Tuscany, Italy) in the history of volcanology, Part 1: its role in the debates on extinct volcanoes, sources of magma, and eruptive mechanisms (1733-1935)
(/isis/citation/CBB903002196/)
Article
Oslund, Karen;
(2002)
Imagining Iceland: Narratives of Nature and History in the North Atlantic
(/isis/citation/CBB000202582/)
Chapter
Giuseppe Rocca;
(2022)
Il Vesuvio. La drammatica eruzione del 79 d.C. negli studi di Mario Baratta
(/isis/citation/CBB372556548/)
Book
Alfonso Tortora;
(2014)
L'eruzione vesuviana del 1631. Una storia d’età moderna
(/isis/citation/CBB122445269/)
Review
Francesco Luzzini;
(2016)
Review of "L'eruzione vesuviana del 1631. Una storia d’età moderna"
(/isis/citation/CBB129167487/)
Article
Maurizio Erto;
(2016)
Le osservazioni del giovane Campanella sul vulcanismo dei Campi Flegrei
(/isis/citation/CBB419373516/)
Book
Ciancio, Luca;
(2010)
La Fucina segreta di Vulcano: Naturalisti veneti e aristocratici britannici del Settecento alla scoperta del territorio veronese
(/isis/citation/CBB001031639/)
Be the first to comment!