The edge of disaster : rebuilding a resilient nation / Stephen Flynn.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [185]-228) and index.

A brittle nation -- Ready to blow -- Inviting disaster -- Danger on the delta -- Ailing foundations -- The best defense is a good defense -- Getting it right -- Tapping the private sector -- Preparing for the worst -- A resilient society.

Americans are in denial, maintains security expert Flynn, about how vulnerable our nation is to disaster, be it terrorist attack or act of God. But what's truly shocking, he argues, is how little we have learned from September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. America is living on borrowed time--and squandering it. Flynn describes how we have become increasingly vulnerable to disaster by grossly neglecting the complex, crumbling infrastructure that provides our water, food, health care, electricity, and transportation. Through a series of realistic scenarios, he dramatizes the prime areas of documented risk, where terrrorist attacks could kill thousands and bring regions to their economic knees--but the wrath of Mother Nature may be our gravest threat. But Flynn also explores what we can do about it, as individuals and as a society, outlining a detailed, pragmatic preparedness program we can embrace right now.--From publisher description.