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 love this book!
I loved this book. It gives you some insight into the beginnings into the weather service.
A highly informative description of the storm that destroyed Galveston.
Wasn’t sure I wanted to read this but so glad I did. Erik Larson’s writing is superb.
Interesting story of how the Galveston hurricane affected the town and the attitude toward hurricanes.
This is the second book I have read on the deadly hurricane that hit Galveston, TX in 1900. Isaac’s Storm is well researched and provides in sites to what happened to a number of families during the storm. Also provides how the US Weather Bureau was warned about the path of the hurricane by Cuban meteorologists but ignored their reports. …
True story of the 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane, told through the eyes of a weatherman stationed on the Island when the storm came. The worst storm disaster in this country. Fascinating book.
I would have appreciated less of the technical and more of the great storytelling that this author usually infuses his work.
It was a really informative book! The author does a great job of putting 1900 forecasting into perspective. It’s interesting how anomalies of weather in 1900 are normal in today’s world. The reason I only rated the book 3 stars is because it focus a ton on the background and very little on the actual storm in my opinion.
This is a nicely detailed account of the Galveston Hurricane. There are very few natural disasters before the national weather services became as good as they are now, and this book covers part of why the service got better.
Erik Larson can write non-fiction as readable as fiction. I couldn’t put this book down. Excellent read.
It is an extremely well researched account of a very important event in American history that most people know nothing about beyond the broad fact that it happened.
Probably the most accurate account of a devastating event in our history
Very well written and researched. Story is about hurricane that devastated Galveston at the turn of the century. Fascinating reading on the history of weather reporting. The characters are realistic and based in history. Once I started reading I had trouble putting the book down.
Great, historical story of the Galveston hurricane told by one of my favorite authors. Unique way of weaving facts and personal story lines.
Interesting look at the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900, causing the the death of thousands, and the hubris of man that contributed to this awful disaster.
The story was fascinating and real history. I had never realized what could happen in a hurricane If I lived on an island by the ocean. When Katrina went through New Orleans I knew exactly why they needed to bring an axe with them to the attic. I had also never thought about the displacement of snakes and other venomous creatures. Living in …
Isaac’s Storm is a real story of the hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas early in the last century. It is the story of the people who are caught in the storm, and of the early weather forecasters. Erik Larsen is a great author who makes both sides of the story come to life.
The best! Edge of your chair suspence, drama, beautifully told.
This was the first book I read by this author, and it was so good that I’ve read at least three more by him now. His non fiction books read like novels. This one about the 1900 Galveston hurricane is my favorite. Read Issac’s Storm; you’ll be glad you did.