At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era’s new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, “an absurd delusion.” It was 1900, a year when America … felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.
That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd things seemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco. The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston with greater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa, immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and great currents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbulence slipped from the coast of western Africa. Most such waves faded quickly. This one did not.
In Cuba, America’s overconfidence was made all too obvious by the Weather Bureau’s obsession with controlling hurricane forecasts, even though Cuba’s indigenous weathermen had pioneered hurricane science. As the bureau’s forecasters assured the nation that all was calm in the Caribbean, Cuba’s own weathermen fretted about ominous signs in the sky. A curious stillness gripped Antigua. Only a few unlucky sea captains discovered that the storm had achieved an intensity no man alive had ever experienced.
In Galveston, reassured by Cline’s belief that no hurricane could seriously damage the city, there was celebration. Children played in the rising water. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky, until the surf began ripping the city’s beloved beachfront apart. Within the next few hours Galveston would endure a hurricane that to this day remains the nation’s deadliest natural disaster. In Galveston alone at least 6,000 people, possibly as many as 10,000, would lose their lives, a number far greater than the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
And Isaac Cline would experience his own unbearable loss.
Meticulously researched and vividly written, Isaac’s Storm is based on Cline’s own letters, telegrams, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the hows and whys of great storms. Ultimately, however, it is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets nature’s last great uncontrollable force. As such, Isaac’s Storm carries a warning for our time.
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I live in Texas so this book was especially interesting to me. It was more novelized and less historical than I expected.
Nonfiction. A page turning account of the devastating hurricane that destroyed the city of Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900, killing more than 6,000. This was set up in the same pattern as his recent book about Churchill, well researched.) Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, missed the importance of the deep-sea …
Great book, very informative and a good read,
A very compelling adventure into a historical event.
Great writing- learned so much about weather , forecasts, and that particular storm. Really great read.
A fascinating and compelling book. This was a story of the true storm of the century. Over 10,000 people died in the Galveston, Texas area in 1900. Very well told and a page turner.
This is the fourth book by Larson that I’ve read, and as were the others, it was excellent. This account of the Galveston hurricane of 1900 preceded Al Roker’s book on the subject (Storm of the Century) by about 15 years. I checked the references in Roker’s book (which was also really good), and he did indeed use Larson’s book for material. You …
great storytelling of early days of science
One of my favorite authors
Accurate retelling of a historical event, woven with Larsens usual attention to detail and compelling characters.
History that reads like a novel. Can’t put it down story.
Another star in Erik’s crown
This book is very good but Al Roker’s book Storm of the Century, which is about the same event, is actually better. Both are interesting and informative reads.
Erik Larson delivers again. Reads like a novel and full of facts. Great book
Didn’t want to put this down. It’s Historical fiction but reads like a thriller.
This text recounts an actual event. The technical information is interesting and, if nothing else, should make a modern reader appreciate the technological advancements in meteorology and communication of the current century.
This was a very informative book on the first days of keeping weather records and predicting storms.
If you enjoy history, this book is one you will not be able to put down. Isaac’s Storm is another book by Eric Larson that has been carefully researched and narrated with emotion and detail.
Fifteen years after reading it, I am still haunted by this book.
History at it’s best.