catastrophe

A pioneer in the field of psychohistory, Robert Jay Lifton is a psychiatrist and author best known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform and cult behavior. He joins us this morning to discuss his latest book: "Surviving Our Catastrophes: Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Scott Berg’s new book, "The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City's Soul" is an account of the fire’s inexorable march and an eye-opening look at its aftermath, telling the story of one of the most infamous calamities in history and the new Chicago it precipitated—a disaster that still shapes American cities to this day.

Disasters are by their very nature hard to predict. Pandemics, earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises, and wars are not normally distributed; there is…