Stress Testing the USA Public Policy and Reaction to Disaster Events

Stress testing is a long established procedure that is used to show how a system responds to pressure and, if carried far enough, a system's weak spots. Stress Testing the USA applies this original approach to four major disasters that befell the United States in the first decade of the twenty first century: the invasion of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the financial meltdown, and the BP oil spill. John Rennie Short provides a compelling narrative of each event that summarizes the main findings but also reveals the connections between them, and ultimately, the deep stresses that fracture the nation today. Illuminating and relevant, Stress Testing the USA is a guide to what ails the United States and what needs to be done to fix it that proves essential to any scholar of public policy, current affairs, or disaster management.

John Rennie Short is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA. He is author of 35 books and numerous academic articles regarding cities, environmental issues and cartography.

1. Introduction
2. The War on Terror
3. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
4. The Financial Meltdown
5. The Gulf Oil Spill
6. The USA: A System Under Stress