Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson
List Price:
Our Price: $7.29
You Save: $8.66 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.40 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Erik LarsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-07-11
ISBN: 0375708278
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Book Review: Historical, informative, and reads like a novel!
Summary: 5 Stars
Erik Larson is committed to presenting the most accurate details of history he possibly can. He does so by conducting all of his own research to try to recreate the feelings, smells, and ambience of a time and place. Part of this research includes gathering data including old weather reports, telegrams, and public documents. While Erik was conducting research on one of his books, he stumbled across information regarding the deadly hurricane that hit the booming town of Galveston, Texas. He soon realized that this immense disaster was not widely known. It was his absolute intention to bring back to life, this amazing piece of forgotten history. He knows that meteorological enthusiasts and history buffs would love to read this tale, but because Erik possesses the ability to communicate complicated ideas in simple terms, Isaac's storm is not just for weathermen and history buffs. This is a gripping story that demonstrates in great detail how people lived during the turn of the century, gives amazing insight to the beginning of weather forecasting as well as scientific explanations of weather, and what it was like to go through such a catastrophic storm in the year 1900.
Much of the story is based around the life of Isaac Cline, who was one of the nations top weathermen. Because Isaac was excellent at keeping journals and records, Erik Larson was able to recreate the many years that passed through Isaac's life leading up to and after the hurricane. These journals and documents helped Larson set the scene and immerse the reader into the setting. Ways in which this was done was the illustrations of historical events such as presidential elections, the Spanish American War and the development of the Panama Canal. He tells of a time when electricity and telephone services were just starting to spread through the bigger cities. Larson gives great descriptions of such particular smells and sounds of horse-driven carriages and locomotives, which lend a hand in recreating the historic atmosphere.
This story is told at a time when Galveston was an emerging major city in the nation and was in a heated race with Houston to be the port authority to the Gulf of Mexico. Not only did the geographical location of the area push this growth along, but the major technological advances at the time also facilitated the boom. These factors gave man astounding and dangerous hubris. The clever idea of weaving telegrams and editorial quotes into his story helps Larson demonstrate Galveston's oblivious ignorance at a time when the "average American felt 400% bigger than the year before". For example, Isaac Cline's statement in an 1891 article; "It would be impossible for any cyclone to create a storm wave which could materially injure the city", and that it would be "an absurd delusion."
Erik Larson does an outstanding job at describing the physical science behind storms. This was something that was a new science at Isaac's time. The history of weather and storm law is revealed in such an interesting way, it does not bore the reader. In fact, the book goes through the history of the first cyclone being tracked and recorded up to more recent disasters such as Hurricane Andrew. The author tells how the Signal Corp, the first weather service of the nation, forbade forecasting of weather. He also goes into detail about the rivalry with Cuba's weather services and how communication with them was also forbidden. The people of Galveston were caught completely off guard when the storm approached from the Gulf. The entire city had been submerged under the rising sea destroying the entire area and killing over 6,000 people. Erik Larson was able to accomplish the arduous task of finding numerous personal accounts of the powerful storm. He includes these stories in his book in a way that can actually make the reader feel as if they experienced the storm themselves. The only thing missing is pictures.
Being in seven hurricanes myself, I feel this book does a great job in representing the feeling of an oncoming storm, the stress of awaiting the storm's end, and the misery of cleaning up and rebuilding after the fact. I was also quite impressed with how much I learned about the nations history in weather services along with the science of weather itself. I have taken college courses and read text books associated with American history, weather and climate as well as coastal and marine science, but have never absorbed so much information from one book. The story of Isaac's storm would be a perfect supplement to any related course involved with weather, coastal areas or even early American History.
I think a lot of credit should be given to Erik Larson for doing such an outstanding job in recreating this piece of history. Considering the destruction of the storm, it is amazing he was able to assemble so much data in the form of telegrams, newspaper clippings, journals and personal accounts. The author has also done a spectacular job giving the reader about 30-40 pages of his sources and personal notes which will help to invite more insight to this time and storm. This book is not a history book. This book is not a textbook on weather. This book is a non-fiction book about one of the nations deadliest storms, the nations hubris at the turn of the century, and the nations history in weather service. This book is a must read!
Summary of Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
National BestsellerSeptember 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devestating personal tragedy.
Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney
20th Century Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 20th Century Books
Route 66: The Mother Roadby Michael Wallis
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 1992-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.99
Sweet and Low: A Family Storyby Rich Cohen
Picador; Published: 2007-03-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.17
Price in other shops:
When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreamsby Bob Greene
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.63
Price in other shops:
Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star Stateby Randolph B. Campbell
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-08-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $155.33
The Dodgers Move Westby Neil Sullivan
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1989-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops:
American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bushby Kevin Phillips
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2004-09-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.95
Price in other shops:
Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnamby H. R. McMaster
Harper Perennial; Published: 1998-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops:
My Father the Spy: An Investigative Memoirby John H. Richardson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-08-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
My Father the Spy: An Investigative Memoirby John H. Richardson
Harper; Published: 2005-08-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.59
Price in other shops:
A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906by Simon Winchester
PBS; Harper; Published: 2005-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.71
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Children's Blizzard (P.S.)by David Laskin
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
An Act of Vengeanceby Erik M. Larson
iUniverse, Inc.; Published: 2007-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.95
Sam Houston and the American Southwest, 3rd Edition (Library of American Biography)by Randolph B. Campbell
Longman; Published: 2006-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.68
Price in other shops:
Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star Stateby Randolph B. Campbell
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-02-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.00
Price in other shops:
The Johnstown Floodby David McCullough
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1987-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.22
Price in other shops:
A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memoryby Randy Roberts, James S. Olson
Free Press; Published: 2002-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.41
Price in other shops:
Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gunby Erik Larson
Vintage; Published: 1995-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.37
Price in other shops:
Thunderstruckby Erik Larson
Broadway; Published: 2007-09-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops:
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlinby Erik Larson
Crown; Published: 2011-05-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed Americaby Erik Larson
Vintage; Published: 2004-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.77
Price in other shops: