Synopses & Reviews
Stress testing is a long established procedure that is used to show how a system responds to pressure and, if carried far enough, a system's weak spots. Stress Testing the USA applies this original approach to four major disasters that befell the United States in the first decade of the twenty first century: the invasion of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the financial meltdown, and the BP oil spill. John Rennie Short provides a compelling narrative of each event that summarizes the main findings but also reveals the connections between them, and ultimately, the deep stresses that fracture the nation today. Illuminating and relevant, Stress Testing the USA is a guide to what ails the United States and what needs to be done to fix it that proves essential to any scholar of public policy, current affairs, or disaster management.
Review
Review
'John Rennie Short's Stress Testing the USA uses a unique perspective to locate the seeds of the disasters in American social, political, economic, and cultural systems.' - William L. Waugh, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Georgia State University, USA
Synopsis
In this volume, the USA is treated as a system that has been stress-tested by four unique events: the War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina, the Financial Meltdown that led to the Great Recession and the Giant Oil Spill. The author uses stress-testing to identify weaknesses within the "system," and examine the response to disaster.
About the Author
John Rennie Short is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA. He is author of 35 books and numerous academic articles regarding cities, environmental issues and cartography.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The War on Terror
3. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
4. The Financial Meltdown
5. The Gulf Oil Spill
6. The USA: A System Under Stress