The Geography of Risk, Gilbert M. Gaul
The Geography of Risk, Gilbert M. Gaul
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The Geography of Risk
Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America's Coasts

Author: Gilbert M. Gaul

Narrator: Gilbert M. Gaul, Matt Godfrey

Unabridged: 8 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2019


Synopsis

This program includes an introduction and epilogue read by the author.

This century has seen the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history—but who bears the brunt of these monster storms?

Consider this: Five of the most expensive hurricanes in history have made landfall since 2005: Katrina ($160 billion), Ike ($40 billion), Sandy ($72 billion), Harvey ($125 billion), and Maria ($90 billion). With more property than ever in harm’s way, and the planet and oceans warming dangerously, it won’t be long before we see a $250 billion hurricane. Why? Because Americans have built $3 trillion worth of property in some of the riskiest places on earth: barrier islands and coastal floodplains. And they have been encouraged to do so by what Gilbert M. Gaul reveals in The Geography of Risk to be a confounding array of federal subsidies, tax breaks, low-interest loans, grants, and government flood insurance that shift the risk of life at the beach from private investors to public taxpayers, radically distorting common notions of risk.

These federal incentives, Gaul argues, have resulted in one of the worst planning failures in American history, and the costs to taxpayers are reaching unsustainable levels. We have become responsible for a shocking array of coastal amenities: new roads, bridges, buildings, streetlights, tennis courts, marinas, gazebos, and even spoiled food after hurricanes. The Geography of Risk will forever change the way you think about the coasts, from the clash between economic interests and nature, to the heated politics of regulators and developers.

About Gilbert M. Gaul

Gilbert M. Gaul has twice won the Pulitzer Prize and has been shortlisted for the Pulitzer four other times. For more than thirty-five years, he worked as an investigative journalist for The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other newspapers. He has reported on non-profit organizations, the business of college sports, homeland security, the black market for prescription drugs, and problems in the Medicare program. His books include Giant Steps, Free Ride (with Neill A. Borowski), and Billion-Dollar Ball. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and a Ferris Fellow at Princeton University. Gaul lives in New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on July 15, 2019

Gilbert Gaul shows unmistakably what we thought we knew all along: disaster relief and flood insurance have become a stealth entitlement for the wealthy. In his excellent The Geography of Risk, Gaul piles up the evidence through research, interviews and actual examination. It is a patient and relent......more

Goodreads review by Clif on October 26, 2019

This book, published in February of 2019, is an example of what I would like to see provided for each of all the problems that face American society today. Gilbert Gaul toured the parts of the coastal United States that are threatened by hurricanes and "rain bombs" which are hurricanes or lesser stor......more

Goodreads review by Shawn on October 26, 2021

This is a really interesting and prescient topic, but Gaul seems to spin himself in circles for large chunks of the book. There’s not a strong narrative thread running through the book, though I did ultimately find it valuable.......more

Goodreads review by Glennon on December 21, 2019

Excellent analysis of the impact of climate change and poor policy choices that encourage coastal and barrier island settlement that, in the near future, will become unsustainable. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Dauphin Island, a barrier island that my ancestors settled in the early 18th centur......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on July 19, 2019

A Warning For The Entire US Eastern And Gulf Coasts. This book is fairly comprehensive in its history of coastal development, with particular emphasis on the back bays of New Jersey but also discussing development all the way South to Florida and up along the Florida Gulf Coast all the way to Galves......more