If you're feeling vulnerable in these cataclysmic times, stay clear of Lee Clarke, the Eeyore of American sociology and author of the forthcoming study of disaster, Worst Cases (Chicago, £16). 'Doom is everywhere,' he says, 'catastrophes are common.' Viruses as deadly as Ebola could circle the globe in 24 hours, 'on the planes that don't crash'. And 'it's not a question of if but of when terrorists will detonate a nuclear device.'

LRB 6 October 2005 | PDF Download