Vulcan’s Fury: Man against the Volcano

There are plenty of books about how volcanoes work, but this is a book about the effects of volcanic eruptions on those who witness and experience them. Fifteen volcanic eruptions are described. For 14, ranging from Vesuvius in ad 79 to Pinatubo in 1991, major eruptions are described using contemporary sources. These are not necessarily the most spectacular eruptions but the best documented. For this reason the 1727 eruption of Oraefajökull, documented by Jon Thorlaksson, is presented rather than the more spectacular eruption of 1362 whose most lasting record is that the area devastated was renamed Öraefi, that is wilderness....