"Deftly interweaving theoretical, historical, spatial and social analysis, the authors illustrate powerfully (with global relevance) the irony of capitalist modernity embodied in the century-long national post-disaster reconstruction project in Messina: the creation through bureaucratic territorial "development" of the conditions of precarity and dependency for which those inhabiting and reworking for generations that "temporary" politically and physically constructed landscape are blamed." (Ann Kingsolver, Professor of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, USA) "Disasters last a long time. The interminable reconstruction of Messina was precursory of the spatial and social configurations of inequality that still characterize the city. In 1908, Messina prefigured contemporary disaster relief. For its acute analysis, its compassionate ethnography, its theoretical skill in weaving space with social class and state with financial capitalism, Farinella and Saitta's book is essential reading." (Magali Sarfatti Larson, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Temple University, USA) "Domenica Farinella and Pietro Saitta have written a powerful analysis of the 1908 Messina earthquake that reveals its long-lasting impact on the destinies of the city and its people. They show how the earthquake remade Messina, as the fitful rebuilding both ensured the development of an impoverished working class and a bourgeoisie devoted to a rentier economy. Astonishingly clear, acutely written - an important contribution.

" (Michael Blim, Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA).