author
Samuel Henry Prince
A pioneering Canadian sociologist and Anglican priest, he is best remembered for turning the Halifax Explosion into a landmark study of how communities respond to disaster. His work helped connect social reform, faith, and early sociology in a way that still feels strikingly modern.
1 Audiobook
Catastrophe and Social Change Based Upon a Sociological Study of the Halifax Disaster
by Samuel Henry Prince
About the author
Born in New Brunswick in 1886, Samuel Henry Prince became an Anglican priest and later emerged as one of Canada's early sociologists. He studied at the University of Toronto and went on to complete doctoral work at Columbia University, building a career that joined ministry, teaching, and public-minded scholarship.
Prince is most closely associated with the 1917 Halifax Explosion, a catastrophe he witnessed firsthand while serving in Halifax. His best-known book, Catastrophe and Social Change (1920), examined the disaster not just as a tragic event but as a revealing case study in collective behavior, recovery, and institutional change.
He later taught for many years at the University of King's College and was remembered as a forceful advocate for social programs and reform. That mix of pastor, observer, and activist gives his writing a special energy: even when he is analyzing crisis, he is deeply interested in how people and communities rebuild.