In An Imperial Disaster: The Bengal Cyclone of 1876, Benjamin Kingsbury argues that the factors that made this cyclone particularly destructive had less to do with nature than with the exploitative and iniquitous structure of the British Raj. Drawing on a combination of government documents and newspaper records, Kingsbury builds an impressive body of data to demonstrate his point. The book sets the scene for the disaster by providing the reader with details regarding the natural landscape of southern Bengal, in particular the districts of Bakarganj, Noakhali, and Chittagong, and the islands of Dakhin Shahbazpur, Hatia, and Sandwip. Kingsbury goes into considerable detail discussing patterns of settlement and the evolution of a highly unequal society split between powerful proprietors and poor cultivators with limited tenancy rights. The picture that emerges is a classic one of colonial Bengal: a hierarchical social order with absentee landowners at the apex, a bewildering...

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