The Mistral

"Every year, most forcefully when winter turns to spring, the chilly mistral wind blows through the Rhãone Valley of southern France over the northwest coast of the Gulf of Lion into the Mediterranean. Sometimes the winds are brisk and sustained, other times they are unleashed in violent gusts. Trees are knocked over or permanently bent to the east in the path of the wind, trains are swept off their tracks, crops are destroyed. Afterward the sky is clear and blue, as Provence is often pictured. The legendary wind is central to the area's regional identity, inspiring artists and writers near and far for centuries. This force of nature is the focus of Dunlop's Windswept, a beautifully written examination of the power of the mistral wind, and in particular the ways it has challenged central tenets of 19th century European society: order, mastery, predictability. As Dunlop shows, while the modernizing state sought liberation from environmental realities through scientific advances, land modification, and other technological solutions, the wind blew on, literally crushing attempts at control, and becoming increasingly integral to regional feelings of place and community"--