Empire and Catastrophe

With a detailed view of debates about reconstruction, architecture, and urban planning, Segalla discusses the continuing effects of colonialism and decolonization on contemporary patterns of environmental modification and utilization and examines the role of disasters in enhancing the centralized power and hegemonic objectives of authoritarian states. His outstanding research is also noteworthy for its illuminating use of literary materials and memoirs in the reconstruction of lived experiences. -B. Tavakolian, Choice This work is a unique take on the major events of revolution and the creation of the post-colonial world in North Africa. While grounded in archival work, it takes flight in the literary analysis of contemporary sources that touch on the events. As such it is a fascinating read. -Gregory H. Maddox, H-Africa Richly sourced and persuasively argued, Empire and Catastrophe weaves together metropolitan and imperial narratives. . . . The book's intellectual rigor is matched only by the clarity of its prose. -Christopher M. Church, author of Paradise Destroyed: Catastrophe and Citizenship in the French Caribbean Similar to Edward Simpson's Political Biography of an Earthquake: Aftermath and Amnesia in Gujarat, India, Spencer Segalla's brilliant book offers an innovative fusion of political, cultural, and environmental history to examine decolonization and the creation of postcolonial Algeria, Morocco, and France. -Michael G. Vann, author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam Engagingly written and richly sourced, Empire and Catastrophe is an important contribution to our understanding of the broader ecosystem of empire. Looking at a series of local disasters across the space of French imperialism, Segalla evokes the ways catastrophe and decolonization shaped, and continue to shape, each other. -Brock Cutler, associate professor of history at Radford University