Timothy W. Kneeland is professor and chair of history and political science at Nazareth College. He is the author of Pushbutton Psychiatry: A Cultural History of Electroshock in America and Playing Politics with Natural Disaster: Hurricane Agnes, the 1972 Election, and the Origins of FEMA.
"The spellbinding account of the 1977 snow disaster in Buffalo, New York. . . . One of the finest political history accounts this reviewer has encountered.-- ""Choice"" To residents of Buffalo, the 1977 blizzard is a lasting reminder to prepare for the worst. According to Kneeland, Buffalo is now 'capable of handling snowstorms that would have paralyzed nearly any other city.' However, as climate change brings ever more weather extremes--such as the Texas freeze of winter 2021--there is still much to be learned from Kneeland's perceptive case history.-- ""Natural History"" An insightful and well-written book about the evolution of public policy with respect to weather crises and snowstorms in particular.-- ""Andrew Reeves, Washington University in St. Louis"" Kneeland has crafted for us a rigorous, scholarly volume that is also captivating, disturbing, instructive, and yet fun to 'plow' through. Declaring Disaster delivers and applies an array of perspectives that cleverly investigates elements of US disaster politics and management through telling the story of a vital NYS municipality befallen by an epic blizzard.-- ""Richard Sylves, author of Disaster Politics and Policy"""