Download or read book Ghosts of Vesuvius written by Charles R. Pellegrino and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2004-08-10 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which obliterated the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, was a disaster that resounds to this day. Now, paleontologist Charles Pellegrino, author of the New York Times bestseller Her Name, Titanic, presents a wealth of new knowledge about the doomed towns –– the people, their last moments, and the aftermath. By employing the latest in ⥯rensic archaeology⟲esearchers have been able to piece together long–buried stories, including that of wealthy abolitionists (sometimes called Christians) who were supporting a slave girl named Justa against her former master; they have discovered evidence of a thriving ⬩ddle class,⟷hich lived in houses with iron supports, concrete walls, sliding glass doors, and sanitary facilities; they have learned that these Roman citizens, whose medical technology included antibiotics, had a life expectancy not achieved again until the mid–1950s. The lessons learned from modern scrutiny of that ancient eruption produce disturbing echoes in the present. For the strange physics of volcanic ⣯wnblast⟡nd ⢯llapse column⟷ere at play in the 9–11 World Trade Center disaster. Dr. Pellegrino, who worked at Ground Zero in the attack's aftermath, shares his unique knowledge of these forces, drawing a direct link from past to present, and providing readers with a poignant glimpse into the last moments of our ‭erican Vesuvius."