"Hayekian spontaneous order meets the theory and practice of urban riots. In Disruptive Orders, Nona and Virgil Storr offer a fascinating and persuasive account of the role of spontaneous street protests in driving social change. Creative social theory at its best." (Professor Mark Pennington, Director, Centre for the Study of Governance and Society, Department of Political Economy, King''s College, University of London) "In Disruptive Orders: Riots as a Way of Speaking and Socio-political Change in The Bahamas, authors Nona and Virgil Storr provide a compelling reassessment of the significance of the Burma Road Riot. The authors challenge previous scholarship where the Riot was portrayed as leaderless, spontaneous, lacking order and generally having little long-term effect on Bahamian society. Instead, the authors boldly refute this historiographical stance, advancing the view that not only did the Riot have order and structure, but it had long term repercussions for the political history of The Bahamas. By engaging recent theoretical work on riots along with an analytical framework that examines contemporary events in the United States, Disruptive Orders provides a refreshing approach to the seminal event of June 1942. Beyond a solid theoretical intervention, the authors are to be commended for the depth of archival and ethnographic research that makes this study an excellent contribution to Bahamian social-political history and larger studies on public disturbances.
" (Dr. Christopher Curry PhD, Associate Professor of History, University of The Bahamas) "This book provides a fascinating account of the 1942 riot that occurred in the Bahamas. The authors challenge existing interpretations and argue convincingly that this episode of public disorder had important political significance as an early sign of the political awakening of Black Bahamians. The work is informed by a wealth of data drawn from archival sources and qualitative interviews." (Professor Matthew Moran, Head of Department, Department of War Studies, King''s College London, Department of War Studies, Strand, London) "As a Bahamian and as someone who has spent years in public service, I fully endorse the powerful and necessary insights that Disruptive Orders brings to our understanding of the 1942 riot and its lasting impact on The Bahamas. This important work reframes the event as a catalyst for change. It does not glorify unrest but provides a thoughtful framework to understand why such moments arise and how they shape the trajectory of a people." (Hon.
Kwasi Thompson, MP Member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama, Former Minister of State for Grand Bahama and Finance) "As a Bahamian and as someone who has spent years in public service, I fully endorse the powerful and necessary insights that Disruptive Orders brings to our understanding of the 1942 riot and its lasting impact on The Bahamas. This important work reframes the event as a catalyst for change. It does not glorify unrest but provides a thoughtful framework to understand why such moments arise and how they shape the trajectory of a people." (Hon. Kwasi Thompson, MP Member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama, Former Minister of State for Grand Bahama and Finance) "Disruptive Orders is a brilliant examination of the emergent order of riots, which are effective mechanisms of expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo through collective action, and which under certain circumstances lead to positive social change. Though in other instances rather than positive social change they produce undesirable unintended consequences. Written with engaging prose informed by rigorous social science and deep historical understanding, Disruptive Orders is a significant contribution to the study of spontaneous orders and thus the social scientific understanding of collective action in the context of political violence and the requisite conditions for social change." (Professor Peter J.
Boettke, George Mason University, Department of Economics).