Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History [J0391]

2000 PB in nice clean condition. The riveting true story of the Galveston hurricane of 1900, still the deadliest natural disaster in American history-from the acclaimed author of The Devil in the White City. "A gripping account ... fascinating to its core, and all the more compelling for being true." -The New York Times Book ReviewSeptember 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-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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "His writing is beautiful, his research meticulous, his final product (as always) superb. What a gift he has for tenacious and compelling storytelling."; "A lot of detailed meteorology building to an almost unbelievably vivid, harrowing, distressing account of the storm itself."; "Interesting with some good stories and descriptions."; "Larsen tells stories so well! Gripping. Sad. Surprising. Fearful. Makes you wonder what the heck forecasters and the authorities were thinking by being so reluctant to say 'hurricane'. Reading this book really opens one’s eyes to the last 126 years of weathr forecasting. Great read!"