Publishers Weekly
01/24/2022
Kayyem (Security Mom), a senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School, delivers an informative guide to surviving the next disaster. Her process involves three distinct parts: preparing for and reacting to catastrophic events, minimizing harm, and applying information gleaned from present-day disasters to those of the future. She explains the importance of situational awareness, contending that the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, the January 6 Capitol riot, and other recent events might have been less dire had better preparations been made and information disseminated more quickly. Turning to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kayyem demonstrates the concept of “minimizing cascading losses,” showcasing new medical strategies developed in response to the prevalence of IEDs. Elsewhere, she recounts the 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown in Japan, detailing how the “dominance of the nuclear industry” caused leaders to disregard lessons learned in the 19th and 20th centuries about the consequences of natural and man-made disasters. Throughout, Kayyem makes clear that government leaders and institutions cannot always be counted on to serve the public’s best interest in a crisis. Full of practical advice and incisive analysis, this is an astute and timely road map for mitigating the consequences of the next cataclysm. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Kayyem combines real-world national security experience, the everyday personal experiences of an individual, and the genius of a policy thinker for her compelling and engaging new book. Virtually anything Kayyem writes is a must-read and she has put it all together to help us prepare for our era of disasters.”—Jeh Johnson, former secretary of homeland security
“From 9/11 through the pandemic, the United States has been battered by several decades of emergencies. Even more, and worse, are ahead. Juliette Kayyem has a clear-eyed, sane, urgent-but-not-frantic set of principles to guide us in dealing with ‘the devil.’ We’ll all be better off for following her advice.”—James Fallows, National Book Award winner
“Juliette Kayyem is who we call when disaster strikes for a reason: she’s calm, unafraid, and deeply informed. Here she leaves no disaster unturned as she shows how we can be ready to respond. She’ll open your eyes: you’ll definitely never think of Fukushima, fires, or even Beyoncé the same way again.”—Erin Burnett, CNN anchor
“Juliette Kayyem’s infectious energy and passion for reasoned crisis management jump out of the pages of her book. She has written a succinct, compelling kitchen-table tutorial on how to get your head around crises. A must-read for first responders, crisis managers, and the normal citizen who wants to anticipate, prepare, cope, and be resilient.”—James Clapper, former national intelligence director
“We live in a dangerous world where big trouble is inevitable. Oddly, those who warn us to be better prepared are often dismissed. But Juliette Kayyem refuses to be a modern-day Cassandra. Get your head around this book and get smart. Or ignore her lessons at your own peril.”—Miles O’ Brien, correspondent, PBS Newshour
“An eye-opening look at the disasters that have troubled humans throughout history—and why they seem to be increasing in frequency… An urgent, useful survival manual for our time.”—Kirkus
“Full of practical advice and incisive analysis, this is an astute and timely road map for mitigating the consequences of the next cataclysm.”—Publishers Weekly
“In a world marred by preventable miscalculation, Juliette Kayyem’s ‘The Devil Never Sleeps’ provides a playbook for making it out alive.”—Paige Williams, The New Yorker
Library Journal - Audio
06/01/2022
Crisis-management expert Kayyem's (Security Mom) guide to planning for and navigating disasters focuses on the central idea that disasters are not random aberrations, but are an inevitable part of human life. According to Kayyem, a national security analyst for CNN and a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, "disasters and crises are not one-offs, random events, rare occurrences; they are standard operating procedure." The key is not to bemoan the fact that disasters happen, but to prepare—and to keep preparing—for the next one, all the while learning from successes and failures. Kayyem's guide, which details recent disasters, including the Boeing 737 Max crisis, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2011 tsunami, is sobering but not depressing. This is a call to action so that everyone can become a disaster manager and ensure that crises don't become catastrophes. Kayyem's narration of her own book is solid and clear. Listeners will easily follow her argument, but they may not be overly engaged by the matter-of-fact presentation. VERDICT Kayyem's timely and well-organized study is recommended for nonfiction collections, particularly those where interest in business, management, government, or the environment is high.—Sarah Hashimoto
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-11
An eye-opening look at the disasters that have troubled humans throughout history—and why they seem to be increasing in frequency.
Think the news about tornadoes in December, rising sea levels, raging fires, and massive blizzards comes at us fast and furious today? Give it another few years, writes disaster-management expert Kayyem, faculty director of the Homeland Security Project and the Security and Global Health Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and our time will seem like a golden age. The devil of her title is always working mischief in some place or another. We tend to respond poorly because, Kayyem suggests, we may be preparing ourselves for the wrong disaster. On that score, the author examines the tragic fate of the California town of Paradise, which was consumed by a fire that burned an area the size of Chicago. Kayyem notes that houses were built right up against unmanaged forests that were full of flammable debris, while the town’s developers, seeking a kind of gated community without the gates, put in only one narrow road that was subject to being walled off by flames. The good news, writes the author, is that the town is now being rebuilt with lessons learned in mind. This speaks to another of Kayyem’s points: Humans sometimes don’t learn from earlier mistakes. She cites an old stone tablet near Fukushima, Japan, that bears the warning, “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build homes below this point” lest they be destroyed by a tsunami, which is exactly what happened in 2011. Kayyem explodes many myths, noting, for example, that there was a point to the worry about Y2K, the disastrous effects of which did not materialize precisely because people prepared for it. “The only response to the preparedness paradox,” she concludes, “is a commitment to sustained preparedness; being ready will seem not that outside the norm.”
An urgent, useful survival manual for our time.
