Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines

For Ateneo de Manila University Press

James Francis Warren

Typhoons offers an unprecedented and extensive view of the complex interplay of typhoons and Philippine society. Its sweeping coverage of the Philippine landscape that includes the earliest contact with the West, the development of the trans-Pacific trade, incursions of the Catholic religion, integration into the Modern World system, and the extraordinary influences of centuries of typhoons has made for remarkable scholarship. 

By placing typhoons and associated hazards at the center of his historical focus, James Francis Warren presents a bold and innovative interpretation of Philippine pasts and futures, whereby the distinctions between natural hazards and natural disasters disappear. He gives a unique and long-term perspective on Philippine environmental and economic-social history through the lens of a recurrent extreme weather event extending all the way to the present, laying down the critical challenges that confront us in a globally warmer and more unpredictable future.

A very important reference material for all those interested in multidisciplinary approaches to environmental sciences, social sciences, economic and sociopolitical history, disaster risk management, and sustainable development, Typhoons is an astonishing, panoramic, persuasive study of inestimable value.

James Francis Warren is an emeritus professor of modern Southeast Asian history at Murdoch University. He is an award-winning historian who has published numerous books including NUS Press' The Sulu Zone, Iranun and Balangingi, Ah Ku and Karayuki-san, and Rickshaw Coolie.

Publication Year: 2025
761pp
36 photos, 10 maps, 3 graphs, 20 tables, 15 typhoon tracks in colour
Paperback
ISBN: 9786214483228

Distributed for Ateneo de Manila University Press