Catastrophic Diplomacy

Julia F. Irwin is professor of history at Louisiana State University.
For more information about Julia F. Irwin, visit the Author Page.

"A comprehensive and critical examination of an important yet under-explored aspect of US international relations. Irwin’s work, rich in detail and scope, represents an invaluable resource not only for historians of US American foreign policy but also for current practitioners and policymakers in the field of international aid and diplomacy . . . . [a] sweeping study . . . . a significant scholarly achievement."—Not Even Past

"This thought-provoking book . . . . reveals how factors such as geopolitical self-interest, national sovereignty, socioeconomic disparities, and pure happenstance influenced when and how the US chose to respond to humanitarian crises . . . .understanding how the US historically used foreign assistance to further its self-interest abroad provides important lessons that can inform American policymakers’ responses to international catastrophes today."—CHOICE

"For the current and future practice of disaster aid in the climate century, Catastrophic Diplomacy illustrates that nothing was inevitable in the history of US foreign disaster relief."H-Environment

"A cautionary tale of constant pitfalls in provisioning aid, as well as humble suggestions for a better path through the calamities of the future—especially as once-a-century disasters become ever more frequent in our climate crisis."—Megan Black, author of The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power

"Far beyond its explicit arguments about disaster aid, this book stands as a model of how to think and write about contingency in history."—Jacob Remes, author of Disaster Citizenship: Survivors, Solidarity, and Power in the Progressive Era

"In a world of cascading climate change, Catastrophic Diplomacy could not be more timely. This important study explores the multiple factors that shape both the arrival of and international responses to, natural disasters. Irwin's attention to both the US state and humanitarian organizations is exemplary, as is her analysis of how feelings of sympathy for distant suffering and hard calculations of state interest have been intertwined. Covering more than one hundred years, with breadth of reach and impressive analytical precision, Irwin's book will become a classic."—Melani McAlister, author of The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals