In exploring the unnatural history of natural calamity, this book surveys more than a century of losses from weather and seismic extremes, exposing the fallacy of seeing such calamities as simply random events. The author shows that is always America's poor, elderly, and minorities who suffer most.

How else can we explain that the hardest hit areas have been mobile home parks and other low-income neighbourhoods? Beginning with the 1886 Charleston and 1906 San Francisco earthquakes, and continuing to the present, Steinberg spotlights the defective approach to natural hazards taken by real estate interests, the media, and policymakers. By understating the extent of storm damage in news reports and offering quick repairs and cosmetic solutions to damaged property, fundamental flaws in the status quo go unremedied, class divisions are maintained, and unsafe practices continue unquestioned. Even today, with our increased scientific knowledge, he shows that reckless building continues unabated in seismically active areas and flood-prone coastal plains, often at taxpayer expense. Sure to provoke discussion, Acts of God is a call to action that must be heard before the next disaster hits.