Enriched By Catastrophe
Enriched by Catastrophe
Social Work and Social Conflict after the Halifax Explosion
Enriched by Catastrophe: Social Work and Social Conflict After the Halifax Explosion.
As a gate to the Great War, Halifax, Nova Scotia had reversed its previous slide into decline, energizing the harbor with government money for shipping, and many had well-paying jobs in the war efforts. But in one moment, when two ships collided, over two and a half million kilograms of munitions almost completely destroyed Halifax’s North End and completely destroyed the lives of the people anywhere near it. In the aftermath, Canadians sent much-needed goods and provided services, including the efforts of the band of social workers. However, those social workers encountered a log-standing tradition of entitlement by class, in which well-to-do volunteer social workers meted out as little as possible so as not to really improve the lot of those they considered beneath them. Practitioner Boyd is objective but unsparing in this account of the ever-present underside of disaster and class. Distribute in the US by Independent Publishers Group.-Reference & Research book News August 2008