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

NOT MUCH TO ADD TO THE GREAT REVIEWS I HAVE READ HERE SINCE READING THIS BOOK MYSELF . IF YOU ARE INTRIGUED OR JUST INTERESTED IN MAN AGAINS THE ELEMENTS ( and losing ) THIS IS ONE MORE TO ADD TO YOUR READING MUSTS .
ERIK LARSON DID A SPLENDID JOB IN COMBINING NOT JUST THE STORM OF 1900 BUT, MAKING NOTE OF OTHER STORMS AND EVENTS AROUND THAT TIME. ALSO HIS ABILITY TO MAKE YOU HAVE THE SENSATION OF ALSO FEELING WHAT SOME OF THE LUCKY SURVIVORS MUST HAVE BEEN GOING THRU AND HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT .
MR. LARSON HAS DONE HIS HOMEWORK. RARE WHEN I SAY " OUTSTANDING JOB " , ABOUT ANY WRITTEN WORK ON HERE . BUT..." OUTSTANDING JOB , MR. LARSON " , SIMPLY OUTSTANDING.
BY THE WAY, IF YOU LIKE THE MORE GROSS SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE, I SUGGEST YOU PICK UP MR. LARSON'S " DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY " . RECOUNTS A SERIAL KILLER OF THE MOST GRUESOME KIND DURING THE " CHICAGO'S " 1893 WORLD'S FAIR .

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larsen is a compelling read. It's the story of the events leading up to the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas. The time was so different. Today we're starting to see the results of our indiscriminate destruction of the environment in the melting of the polar caps and global warming. In 1900, meteorologists were of the belief that someday they would be able to control the weather, stop hail, start rain, there was nothing they couldn't do. And they hoarded their responsibility and priviledge from any who might disagree. Into this political climate blew a storm that would change not only an entire city, but National Weather Bureau, but especially the people who lived through it. Larsen does an excellent job of building the timeline by focusing on just a few people to tell the tragedy. Occasionally he uses the tired technique of ending a chapter on a cliffhanger to heighten and maintain interest. It's not necessary; the story is powerful enough with cheesy literary devices. My only other complaint about the book is the lack of photographs. While it sounds gruesome, pictures of the city before and after the hurricane would help heighten the story. The Isaac in the title is Isaac Cline, head of the National Weather Bureau at the time who ignored the signs of the city's impending doom and suffered for it personally in many ways. This is a horrible story that still holds lessons for us today.

This book does well to explain the anatomy of a hurricane and the damage it can do. Erik Larson illustrated the stories of so many as if he were right there with them.

I must admit that I normally am not drawn to books about natural disasters, yet after seeing a documentary on the Galveston hurricane and finding this book, my curiosity overcame me. Also, I had recently read and enjoyed Larson's book "The Devil in the White City" and felt certain that he would be a thorough and more than competent narrator to tell this story. I must also admit that recent natural disasters only heightened my interest in the storm that is considered the deadliest hurricane in history.

On Saturday, September 8, 1900, Galveston, Texas was struck with deadly and intense force by a hurricane; by the time the storm was over, the city lay in unrecognizable shambles, and estimates of the dead would stretch to 10,000 people. Those who survived the deadly storm were forever haunted by the events that preceded it, the chief one being Isaac Cline. Cline was a meterologist with the burgeoning (and struggling) Weather Bureau, stationed in Galveston at a time when weather forecasting was still considered a matter of chance rather than science. It was a time when America prided itself as too powerful and sufficient to worry that any thing, war or weather, could affect its course. The hurricane that swept through the U.S. at the gates of Galveston would prove them wrong.

Erik Larson has done a tremendous job in recreating the events leading to the storm, and in describing the hurricane itself. Using first-hand accounts, along with his own imaginings, Larson puts the reader front and center to experience the storm along with its victims. It is an achingly beautiful picture of destruction centered on one man's pride and another man's folly. Many often try to rewrite history, to write about themselves after events in order to enhance their image in the eyes of the beholder; Isaac Cline (and his superior) tried to do just that, to magnify the role that they played in the Galveston disaster. Larson examines all angles and paints a picture of Cline as a man who was haunted for the rest of his days by hurricanes. This led to groundbreaking research in the field, but also left him forever questioning his actions on that fateful day. Could more have been done if he had heeded his fears, the signs, the warnings from Cuba?

"Isaac's Storm" is quickly-paced, at times it even reads like a novel, intensifying and quickening as the storm builds to its destructive climax. Larson's writing is well-researched and so finely crafted that he could draw the attention of the unlikeliest range of readers to his works. If there is one flaw with "Isaac's Storm" it is the lack of photographs to accompany the horrific happenings, but perhaps Larson's vivid word pictures are enough.

Overall very interesting and nice historical book even though the POV's shift rather awkwardly and seem disjointed at times. The book also provides a good narration of the competition between the Cuban and American meteorological services.

The only part that annoys me is the parts of narration that are sensationalist. A storm is not a living breathing entity and does not have a mind of its own. Yet the storm of 1900 is constantly described as "having Galveston in its sights" and there is even one point where it is described as "hunting children". Please Mr. Larson if you ever do a book like this again just still to the facts and the first hand accounts. That's all any of us really want.