Oliver, a twenty-five year veteran of disaster and emergency management and a senior executive with the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency, has developed a comprehensive textbook for teaching catastrophic disaster response management. Differentiating between lesser events like emergencies or disasters, this work focuses on the most extreme disturbances, natural or man-made catastrophes, which effect primary infrastructure, governmental functions or regional stability. The work is divided into five sections covering planning, ethical and political concerns, operational issues, response recovery and reconstruction and leadership skills. Each chapter clearly lays out the learning objectives and terms that will be examined and numerous sidebars outline key points throughout. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)