[Hot Off The Press] Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines

New Release from Ateneo Press Typhoons explores the country’s stormy relationship with natural disasters

Typhoons have always been part of Philippine reality. When a typhoon enters the country, devastation always ensues. Renowned historian James Warren asks the question: “Why has the archipelago been unable to circumvent this fate?” A new release from the Ateneo Press, Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines weaves together a multidisciplinary perspective on the complex interactions between typhoons and Philippine society across centuries. 

James Warren has spent five decades unearthing neglected pieces of Southeast Asian histories from the depths of the past. Typhoons is a groundbreaking testament to his keen ability to examine historical phenomena from above and below. In this book, readers journey through Philippine history as shaped by cyclonic storms, weathered by generations since the pre-Hispanic era. Warren discusses the lesser-known indigenous ways of typhoon adaptation—relating the role of colonization in poor prevention, management, and environmental degradation that exacerbates typhoon-related destruction in the present. The final chapter enumerates the urgent societal changes needed so the country may survive the typhoons of the future. 

Walden Bello, author of Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right, emphasizes one of the key insights of the book: “Hazards are natural, disasters are not.” He continues, “With climate change, promising more and more super-typhoons, Warren’s contention that development programs, neoliberal policies, and the rising inequality they have brought in their train, have made the country less resilient and more vulnerable to catastrophes is indisputable.”

Mary Racelis from the Institute of Philippine Culture in Ateneo de Manila University praises the author’s investigation of the fluid boundaries between natural and social sciences–“Warren enables us to go beyond simply describing the Philippines as the world’s most typhoon-affected country. His extraordinary account helps us understand what typhoons mean to us as a people.”

Typhoons successfully argues that human history must be seen as intrinsically linked with environmental changes, and vice versa. It is a valuable resource not only for scholars and students but for all concerned citizens who want a deeper understanding of the disasters of yesterday and today—with hope for a future beyond living in the eye of the storm. 

About the Author

James Francis Warren is an emeritus professor of modern Southeast Asian history at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. He is an award-winning historian who has published numerous monographs, journal articles, and book chapters. His books include The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State (eds. 1981, 2007, and 2021); Iranun and Balangingi: Globalisation, Maritime Raiding, and the Birth of Ethnicity (2002); Pirates, Prostitutes, and Pullers: Explorations in the Ethno and Social History of Southeast Asia (2008); Rickshaw Coolie: A People’s History of Singapore, 1880–1940 (1986 and 2003); and Ah Ku and Karayuki San: Prostitution in Singapore, 1870–1940 (1993 and 2003). He lives in Perth, with his wife, Carol, an anthropologist, and daughter, Kristin, a wildlife, zoological, and conservation medicine specialist.

Category: History

Language: English

Price: PHP 1,295

The book is now available! You can purchase it at the Ateneo Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall or official online shops: Shopee and Lazada.