Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
It may seem a stretch to connect a volcanic eruption with civil and  religious unrest in Indonesia today, but Simon Winchester makes a  compelling case.Krakatoatells the frightening tale of the  biggest volcanic eruption in history using a blend of gentle geology and  narrative history. Krakatoa erupted at a time when technologies like the  telegraph were becoming commonplace and Asian trade routes were being  expanded by northern European companies. This bustling colonial backdrop  provides an effective canvas for the suspense leading up to August 27th,  1883, when the nearby island of Krakatoa would violently vaporize.  Winchester describes the eruption through the eyes of its survivors, and  readers will be as horrified and mesmerized as eyewitnesses were as the  death toll reached nearly 40,000 (almost all of whom died from tsunamis  generated by the unimaginably strong shock waves of the eruption). Ships  were thrown miles inshore, endless rains of hot ash engulfed those towns  not drowned by 100 foot waves, and vast rafts of pumice clogged the hot  sea. The explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption's  shock wave traveled around the world seven times. But the book's biggest  surprise is not the riveting catalog of the volcano's effects; rather,  it is Winchester's contention that the Dutch abandonment of their  Indonesian colonies after the disaster left local survivors to seek  comfort in radical Islam, setting the stage for a volatile future for  the region.--Therese Littleton--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.