The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which obliterated the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, was a disaster that resounds to this day. Now, paleontologist Charles Pellegrino, presents a wealth of new knowledge about the doomed towns - the people, their last moments, and the aftermath.
By employing the latest in “forensic archaeology” researchers have been able to piece together long-buried stories, including that of wealthy abolitionists (sometimes called Christians) who were supporting a slave girl named Justa against her former master; they have discovered evidence of a thriving “middle class,” which lived in houses with iron supports, concrete walls, sliding glass doors, and sanitary facilities; they have learned that these Roman citizens, whose medical technology included antibiotics, had a life expectancy not achieved again until the mid-1950s.
The lessons learned from modern scrutiny of that ancient eruption produce disturbing echoes in the present. For the strange physics of volcanic “downblast” and “collapse column” were at play in the 9-11 World Trade Center disaster. Dr. Pellegrino, who worked at Ground Zero in the attack’s aftermath, shares his unique knowledge of these forces, drawing a direct link from past to present, and providing readers with a poignant glimpse into the last moments of our “American Vesuvius.”
