| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Pt. I | Volcanoes and Eruptions | 1 |
| Ch. 1 | Politicians and Volcanoes | 3 |
| A Modern Tragedy: Mount St. Helens | 7 |
| Ch. 2 | Why Do Volcanoes Erupt? | 29 |
| From the Tiny Molecule, Giants Grow | 34 |
| Volcano Country | 38 |
| Ch. 3 | Volcanoes and Eruptions | 41 |
| Types of Volcanoes | 43 |
| Volcanic Eruptions | 48 |
| Two Eruption Types | 53 |
| Ch. 4 | Poseidon and Pluto: Water and Volcanoes | 65 |
| Bikini and the Base Surge | 69 |
| Taal Volcano | 71 |
| Maar Volcanoes and Cinder Cones | 73 |
| A Little-Known Frontier: Volcanic Eruptions under the Sea | 77 |
| Pt. II | The Hazards of Volcanoes | 87 |
| Ch. 5 | Volcanic Hurricanes | 89 |
| What Happens inside a Pyroclastic Flow? | 94 |
| What Goes Up Must Come Down | 95 |
| Mount Unzen and Merapi | 95 |
| Firecloud Rock: A Detective Story | 102 |
| Calderas and Pyroclastic Flows | 105 |
| Volcanism after a Caldera Collapse | 111 |
| World War II and the Battle for a Caldera | 111 |
| Ch. 6 | Falling Volcanoes and Floods of Mud | 115 |
| A Mountain Fell | 117 |
| Debris Avalanches and Slides beneath the Sea | 123 |
| Volcanic Debris Flows (Lahars) | 123 |
| Potential Destruction from Mount Rainier | 129 |
| Ch. 7 | Lava Flows | 133 |
| Stopping a Lava Flow | 137 |
| Interrupting a Lava Flow | 139 |
| The 1991-1992 Eruption of Mount Etna | 140 |
| Lava Put to Use | 142 |
| A Ride on a Lava Flow | 144 |
| Ch. 8 | Never Sail through an Eruption Cloud | 147 |
| A Sailing Ship and a Jet | 149 |
| Other Encounters with Ash Clouds | 153 |
| Jetliners | 155 |
| Ash and Aircraft Safety | 157 |
| Ch. 9 | The Breath of Volcanoes | 163 |
| Effects of Volcanic Gases | 165 |
| The Year without a Summer | 170 |
| Pt. III | Myths and Benefits of Volcanoes | 175 |
| Ch. 10 | Sometimes the Gods Are Angry | 177 |
| Volcanoes Assault the Senses | 179 |
| Changing Ideas from Old to New | 181 |
| Thera (Santorini): Its Influence on the Modern World | 182 |
| Volcanoes and the Underworld | 187 |
| Divine Intervention | 189 |
| The Making of a Myth | 194 |
| The Emergence of Volcanology as a Science | 196 |
| Science and Modern Ritual | 197 |
| Ch. 11 | Volcanoes for Consumers | 199 |
| Skiing and Hot Baths | 201 |
| Construction Materials and Kitty Litter | 202 |
| The Grand Tour | 211 |
| Modern Volcano Tourism | 214 |
| Ch. 12 | Volcanic Treasures: Steam, Gold, and Diamonds | 217 |
| Steam | 219 |
| Oil and Volcanoes Don't Mix ... or Do They? | 224 |
| Volcanoes and Prospectors' Dreams | 225 |
| Volcanic Gemstones | 227 |
| Ch. 13 | From Ashes Grow the Vines | 231 |
| The Allure of Volcanoes | 237 |
| Fertility and Rebirth | 240 |
| Recovery from Vulcan's Devastation | 241 |
| Ch. 14 | Volcanic Rocks: Guardians of History | 245 |
| Volcanic Ash: The Nearly Perfect Preservative | 247 |
| Human Origins in the Ethiopian Rift | 248 |
| Preserving Historic Cultures | 251 |
| Pt. IV | Living near Volcanoes | 259 |
| Ch. 15 | Mitigation and Survival | 261 |
| Assessing the Hazards: The Pulse of Volcanoes | 266 |
| What Is a Disaster? | 268 |
| The Lesson of Armero | 272 |
| Mount Pinatubo: A Success Story | 275 |
| Volcanologists on the Front Lines | 279 |
| Dante and the Volcano | 284 |
| Appendix 1 | The Volcano Traveler | 287 |
| Appendix 2 | Metric Conversion Table | 312 |
| Index | 313 |
