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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This book is an actual portrayal of people in who survived or died in the 1900 Galveston Hurricane unlike the book by Al Roker’s which puts forth rascist lies that only the blacks dealt with the hard work dealing with very unpleasant deaths and destruction after-effects of the deadliest storm to hit America.
True stories are very exciting and informative. It is a great book.
Couldn’t put it down.
Great book!
Having spent a lot of time in Galveston, Texas, I found this book fascinating.
A great book for anyone living in hurricane country.
compelling history of a tragic natural disaster and the birth of the nation so weather service.
Well written account of a nature disaster
Still the most disastrous hurricane ever to come aground in the US—indeed, a hurricane that to this day remains the nation’s deadliest natural disaster of any kind, the September 8, 1900 storm that hit Galveston, Texas is a perfect setting for the kind of history that Erik Larson writes so well. It has the personal drama he likes to illuminate, …
Larson is a master story teller.
One of the best history books ever. Larson is such a great story teller.
May have started me on a “disaster” kick. Story of one of the first big hurricanes and the story of how people began to start paying attention to the weather. The start of the Weather Bureau.
After reading this book you will never think of Galveston, Texas without recalling this book. A haunting story which will captivate you from beginning to end.
I have wanted to visit Galveston ever since reading this book. It is amazing how much the weather forecasting has improved since the days of this storm.
An interesting account of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Follows the steps and missteps of the early weather service and peels back the layers of time to reveal what life was like in turn of the century America. Very cool!
Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorite authors. I read this book about 10 years ago and it was wonderful. I’m probably due to read it again. Given the current political climate with regard to climate change, it makes this book all the more important of a read. So well written and researched, I could not put it down.
With hurricanes so much in the news now, the true, detailed story of the Galveston TX storm of 1901.
This book was incredible. I could not put it down! I learned a lot about storms and their unpredictability. A great read!
A non-fiction book that reads like a novel. I felt like I was in the middle of the hurricane.
My first but not last Erik Larson book.