Natural Disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean: Coping with Calamity explores the relationship between natural disasters and civil society, immigration and diaspora communities and the long-term impact on emotional health. Natural disasters shape history and society and, in turn, their long-range impact is determined by history and society. This is especially true in Latin America and the Caribbean, where climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these extreme events. Ranging from pre-Columbian flooding in the Andes to the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, this book focuses on long-range recovery and recuperation, rather than short-term disaster relief. Written in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the author shows how lessons learned about civil society, governance, climate change, inequality and trauma from natural disasters have their echoes in the challenges of today’s uncertain world. This book is well-suited to the classroom and will be an asset to students of Latin American history, environmental history and historical memory. June Carolyn Erlick's Natural Disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean is an intriguing mix of the story of how hazard impacts society and the social issues that arise therefrom. Presenting this in a transitional stream of consciousness, she draws on participant observation and historical review to pose the big ques- tions about what informs disaster risk management policy and practice. These questions are concerned with what is a disaster, what are the rela- tionships between the social construct of society and the outcome of hazard impacts, how and under what conditions do community related initiatives sur- vive, and how do disasters in themselves reshape the political and social order of the communities in which they interface. This may suggest a response to David G. Grove's 2011 call for radical disaster research to unearth and mobilize subjugated knowledge of catastrophe and adaptation to change unjust socioe- cological systems ("From Emergency Management to Managing Emergence: A Genealogy of Disaster Management in Jamaica," Annals of the Association of American Geographers ). The book is condensed and intense, addressing some of the lessons learned on these issues across a diversity of states in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a wealth of relevant references that reinforce Erlick's messages or cite her concerns. Many of its recurrent themes are being laid bare in the cur- rent covid-19 environment and address issues and lessons identified but not learned from the experiences of recent events in Latin America and the Carib- bean. One has to do with the psychosocial dimensions of these events and the way they are managed. From her perspective as a participant observer, Erlick has seen and been told about mental health issues that have many shades and touch all tiers of society. The second has to do with the dislocation and migra- tion generated as a consequence of the impact of these hazards and the way they are dealt with in societies and across states. The climate crisis is creating much awareness of these issues that will need sustained collaboration. Third is the understanding and application of science and the extent to which these are similar within and across systems at different levels and scales. It is quite clear, from the stories Erlick presents, that information about the hazards is not enough. She emphasizes that understanding the outcomes of hazard impacts, disasters, requires an appreciation of the context of the governance at local, regional, and national levels. The issues of engagement, consultation, and collaboration have been signaled as important factors in determining whether disasters become triggers for chaos and crisis or opportunities for societal change, if not transformation. These considerations are now becoming visible in the exchanges among disaster risk management practitioners and development actors on risk governance and Systemic Risk. The references are diverse and rich, and used well in anchoring Erlick's passion for understanding, as well as her inherent journalistic curiosity about the big issues that are engaging academia in disaster risk management, climate change, and resilience. In her reflections on devastation, death, dignity, suffering, and recovery are fundamental questions about the effectiveness of the humanitarian system and the nature of its governance very much in the mould of the U.N. Secretary General's Agenda for Humanity 2016. [...] The book will be of interest to a broad readership, including in the disciplines of government and politics, sociology, history, economics, psychology, and urban and regional journalism. - Jeremy Collymore, Institute for Sustainable Development, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados June Carolyn Erlick is the editor-in-chief of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America and publications director at Harvard’s David