Isaac's Storm - by Erik Larson (Paperback)

About the Book

Now in paperback comes this bestselling narrative of the extreme hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, in 1900, leaving at least 8,000 dead in its wake. An unforgettable story of the conflict between human hubris and the last great uncontrollable force, "Isaac's Storm" offers a cautionary tale for the millennium.

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - 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 Review

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--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 the Back Cover

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 by a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over 6,000 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. Thrilling, powerful, and unrelentingly suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the uncontrollable force of nature.

Review Quotes

"A gripping account ... fascinating to its core, and all the more compelling for being true." --The New York Times Book Review

"Gripping ... the Jaws of hurricane yarns." --The Washington Post

"The best storm book I've read, consumed mostly in twenty-four hours; these pages filled me with dread. Days later, I am still glancing out the window nervously. A well-told story." --Daniel Hays, author of My Old Man and the Sea

"Isaac's Storm so fully swept me away into another place, another time that I didn't want it to end. I braced myself from the monstrous winds, recoiled in shock at the sight of flailing children floating by, and shook my head at the hubris of our scientists who were so convinced that they had the weather all figured out. Erik Larson's writing is luminous, the story absolutely gripping. If there is one book to read as we enter a new millennium, it's Isaac's Storm, a tale that reminds us that there are forces at work out there well beyond our control, and maybe even well beyond our understanding." --Alex Kotlowitz, author of The Other Side of the River and There Are No Children Here

"There is electricity in these pages, from the crackling wit and intelligence of the prose to the thrillingly described terrors of natural mayhem and unprecedented destruction. Though brimming with the subtleties of human nature, the nuances of history, and the poetry of landscapes, Isaac's Storm still might best be described as a sheer page turner." --Melissa Faye Greene, author of Praying for Sheetrock and The Temple Bombing

"Superb.... Larson has made [Isaac] Cline, turn-of-the-century Galveston, and the Great Hurricane live again." --The Wall Street Journal

"Erik Laron's accomplishment is to have made this great-storm story a very human one --thanks to his use of the large number of survivors' accounts--without ignoring the hurricane itself." --The Boston Globe

"Vividly captures the devastation." --Newsday

"This brilliant exploration of the hurrican's deadly force...tracks the gathering storm as if it were a character.... Larson has the storyteller's gift of keeping the reader spellbound." --The Times-Picayune

"With consumate narrative skill and insight into turn-of-the-century American culture.... Larson's story is about the folly of all who believe that man can master or outwit the forces of nature." --The News & Observer

"A powerful story ... a classic tale of mankind versus nature." --The Christian Science Monitor

About the Author

Erik Larson is the author of six national bestsellers--The Splendid and the Vile, Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac's Storm--which have collectively sold more than ten million copies. His books have been published in nearly twenty countries.