Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Very insightful read. Will recommend to my dad who is retired from the emergency management field.

I enjoyed this book. I had frequently noted that governments were much better at responding to catastrophes than preventing them and I had developed my own hypotheses. It was nice to read Schlegelmilch’s and Carlin’s more structured analysis, written in plain language. Although the tone of the book seems to make the book targeted more for professionals in the area of disasters, I found the book to be very accessible. I think this is an important book and should be widely read by people interested in current events. Thank you to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for the digital review copy.

Thorough Examination Of The Field. This is a look at the history of disaster response (mostly in the US, and primarily over the last 50 some odd years) and the incentive structures of the various players in the field - and what those incentive structures lead to, for good and bad. It also has a few recommendations on how to move forward, as most books of this type do, though as with most all recommendations of most all books of this type, these very much come down to a Your Mileage May Vary situation. Though I do appreciate that the authors are realists and openly acknowledge that some would be easier to achieve than others, and some of the recommendations are about as close to "never going to happen" as anything ever truly gets. At 34% documentation, it is even on the high side of average in my experience - which is always a plus. Overall a solid and informative look at a lot of aspects of disaster response - and particularly disaster response coordination - that most even within the field probably aren't fully aware of, and for this alone it is absolutely essential reading for anyone who may ever experience a disaster. Which is everyone, everywhere. Very much recommended.