This book is about community responses to industrial disasters that, going far beyond routine mishaps, constitute "surprise" disasters. These disasters are producing unprecedented consequences, and they are emerging faster and lasting longer than ever before. Examples include mercury contamination in Minamata, Japan; underground fires in Centralia, Pennsylvania; the airborne dioxin release at Sevesco, Italy; the poison gas cloud in Bhopal, India; the nuclear reactor fire at Chernobyl, Ukraine; the destruction of Iran's oil facilities during the war with Iraq; and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.