Rebuilding in History
Such large-scale disasters are rare, of course, but a look back at four of them in the U.S. — as New Orleans copes with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina — reinforces that conclusion: Americans are loath to surrender their cities despite the threat of an array of biblical plagues.
A good reminder from the Wall Street Journal on the strength and resilience of American cities, reviewing the rebuildings of San Francisco, Chicago, Galveston and Johnstown after their respective calamities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Notice the references to business leaders and investment in all four examples, hint, hint.
They don’t bring up the fate of Tana, lost for millenia in a sand storm until it was found by the Nazis in the first Indiana Jones movie, or Atlantis. Maybe they were just lost for so long because they were fictional.
