In this gripping narrative history, Al Roker from NBC’s Today and the Weather Channel vividly examines the deadliest natural disaster in American history—a haunting and inspiring tale of tragedy, heroism, and resilience that is full of lessons for today’s new age of extreme weather.On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, two-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and fifteen-foot waves slammed into … fifteen-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the booming port city on Texas’s Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, the city that hours earlier had stood as a symbol of America’s growth and expansion was now gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen: Eight thousand corpses littered the streets and were buried under the massive wreckage. Rushing water had lifted buildings from their foundations, smashing them into pieces, while wind gusts had upended steel girders and trestles, driving them through house walls and into sidewalks. No race or class was spared its wrath. In less than twenty-four hours, a single storm had destroyed a major American metropolis—and awakened a nation to the terrifying power of nature.
Blending an unforgettable cast of characters, accessible weather science, and deep historical research into a sweeping and dramatic narrative, The Storm of the Century brings this legendary hurricane and its aftermath into fresh focus. No other natural disaster has ever matched the havoc caused by the awesome mix of winds, rain, and flooding that devastated Galveston and shocked a young, optimistic nation on the cusp of modernity. Exploring the impact of the tragedy on a rising country’s confidence—the trauma of the loss and the determination of the response—Al Roker illuminates the United States’s character at the dawn of the “American Century,” while also underlining the fact that no matter how mighty they may become, all nations must respect the ferocious potential of our natural environment.
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Being a native texans you learn about the Hurricane. But i learned alot about how hurricanes work from this book. The people that were followed, i was so moved by their story and their fortitude in the face of this tragedy. Al Roker did a great job!
Repetitive and to much irrelevant history.
I love historical books and this one filled the bill and then some. I had no idea of Galveston’s tragic history , but the heroic efforts displayed to come back from the brink!
Well written book about a great tragedy. Gives a different look at this event than was presented in other accounts. Highly recommend it.
Well-written, well researched informative book about a topic that has lain dormant for decades. If you love history you really need to read this book…
Enlightening and an easy read.
Non-fiction with great writing. The author not only gave an accurate account of the events, but included several very human, personal stories which held my interest. This book also gave a very descriptive account of the state of technology, architecture, how people lived – a colorful presentation of not only a spectacular and tragic event, but also of the people and the era they lived in. Highly recommended.
I wish it were longer. There was a lot of room for more detail. Too often a good story gets compressed in an effort to keep the average American’s attention!
I know Al Roker as the entertaining and funny weather forecaster, family man, great cook and now author. He hit it out of the ballpark with this book. He wove lots of diverse and solid information into a highly interesting read. He helped me know and care for the townspeople, learn about early weather forecasting, and understand background information on the history of Texas. It vividly showed how pride can cause great devastation and how heroes rise up in many forms as needed. I could not put this book down. Mr. Roker handled this tragedy in a personal and sensitive way while giving me much to think about.
Educational and terribly realistic coverage of the tragic hurricane of 1900. This was definitely a page-turner.
An excellent historical/human history of the Great Storm. I have read several books on this topic and this by far the best and more enjoyable.
This is the best book I’ve read on the Galveston hurricane. Roker speaks in layman’s terms and takes us into the moments of the tragedy.