Krakatoa (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Simon Winchester
- First Published: 2003
- Type of Work: History and science
- Time of Work: From May 10 to August 27, 1883
- Setting: Krakatoa, Indonesia
- Principal Characters: Alfred Russel Wallace, Alfred Lothar Wegener
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Islands, Death or dying, Disasters, Natural disasters, Southeast Asia, Volcanoes, Boats or boating, Naturalists, Geology or geologists, Earth sciences
- Locales: Krakatoa
The eruption of the tiny Indonesian island of Krakatoa stands even today as a milestone. It was, says science writer Simon Winchester, the “greatest detonation, the loudest sound, the most devastating volcanic event in modern recorded human history.” The eruption may ultimately have been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people and resulted in climatic, historical, and social consequences so far-reaching that many are still felt today. The island’s very name has become a byword for catastrophe.
Winchester traces Europeans’ first knowledge of Krakatoa’s...
[The entire page is 1723 words long]
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