Vintage Books USAProduct DescriptionNational Bestseller
September 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 devastating 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.Amazon.com ReviewOn September 8?? 1900?? a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston?? Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city?? while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided?? entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10??000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history. In Isaac's Storm?? Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston?? its people?? and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm?? Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm's aftermath. There's Louisa Rollfing?? who begged her husband?? August?? not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary's orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer?? who huddled