Ruin: Volume 39, Numbers 3&4 Fall/Winter 2011

From lost kingdoms to modern-day disasters, from economic meltdowns to political unrest, from bad reputations to cinematic flops, the specter of ruin is omnipresent and never ending. Often, ruin evokes feelings of nostalgia for good times long gone. Ruin poses the sometimes unthinkable question: What is so bad about ruin and why do we fear it so?