Krakatoa

In August 1883 the most terrifying volcanic eruption occurred on the island of Krakatoa, five miles from the western tip of Java. The island was destroyed and almost 40,000 people were killed. The impact was truly global: ships sailing in the Red Sea were covered in ash; barometers went haywire in Washington; the seas were disturbed in Devon; immense rafts of pumice floated to Africa. In his wonderfully clear and inimitable style, Simon Winchester explains not just the science of this iconic event, but also its extraordinary political and social consequences.