Tunguska
A Siberian Mystery and Its Environmental Legacy

Examining the role of mystery in environmental history, this book is an intriguing new account of the enigmatic 1908 Tunguska disaster.

Andy Bruno (Author)

9781108840910, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 2022

324 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

This book is accessibly written and includes an extensive apparatus of notes and cited sources. The work most closely fits the genre of environmental history or popular accounts of such history. Bruno's text will appeal to college-level and general readers as well as topic specialists … Highly recommended.' J. Asselin, Choice

In 1908, thunderous blasts and blazing fires from the sky descended upon the desolate Tunguska territory of Siberia. The explosion knocked down an area of forest larger than London and was powerful enough to obliterate Manhattan. The mysterious nature of the event has prompted a wide array of speculation and investigation, including from those who suspected that aliens from outer space had been involved. In this deeply researched account of the Tunguska explosion and its legacy in Russian society, culture, and the environment, Andy Bruno recounts the intriguing history of the disaster and researchers' attempts to understand it. Taking readers inside the numerous expeditions and investigations that have long occupied scientists, he foregrounds the significance of mystery in environmental history. His engaging and accessible account shows how the explosion has shaped the treatment of the landscape, how uncertainty allowed unusual ideas to enter scientific conversations, and how cosmic disasters have influenced the past and might affect the future.

Note on sources, abbreviations, terminology, and transliteration
1. Landscape of mystery
2. Destruction from the sky
3. Reaching the inaccessible terrain
4. Poking and prodding for answers
5. Cosmic fantasies
6. Volunteers take charge
7. Life in Tunguska
8. Protecting the taiga
9. Views from afar
10. Siberian and planetary futures
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]