Krakatoa

The bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and The Map That Changed the World examines the enduring and world-changing effects of the catastrophic volcanic eruption off the coast of Java of the earth’s most dangerous volcano — Krakatoa.

The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa — the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic natural disaster — was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round the planet for years, impacting the global climate and causing sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island’s destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all — in view of today’s new political climate — the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims: one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere.

Simon Winchesters long experience in the world wandering as well as his knowledge of history and geology give us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event in this riveting work of narrative nonfiction, as he brings it telling back to life.

Simon Winchester unearths the full story of the eruption, revealing the profound and often surprising ways it reshaped our world.

Geological History: Explore the terrifying power of plate tectonics and the geological forces that allowed a single island to unleash a cataclysm heard thousands of miles away. 19th Century History: Discover how, in the midst of the Victorian era, the brand-new submarine telegraph system turned the disaster into the first global news event, connecting humanity in an unprecedented way. The Dutch East Indies: Witness the immense tsunami that obliterated coastlines, and see how dust from the eruption created bizarre, fiery sunsets that altered the world’s climate for years. Islamic History: Uncover the startling connection between the volcano’s devastation and the rise of a murderous anti-Western militancy in Java, one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere.