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    The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900
    Unavailable
    The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900
    Unavailable
    The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900
    Ebook377 pages6 hours

    The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900

    By Al Roker

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In this gripping narrative history, Al Roker from NBC’s Today and the Weather Channel vividly examines the deadliest natural disaster in American history—a haunting and inspiring tale of tragedy, heroism, and resilience that is full of lessons for today’s new age of extreme weather.

    On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, two-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and fifteen-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the booming port city on Texas’s Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, the city that hours earlier had stood as a symbol of America’s growth and expansion was now gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen: Eight thousand corpses littered the streets and were buried under the massive wreckage. Rushing water had lifted buildings from their foundations, smashing them into pieces, while wind gusts had upended steel girders and trestles, driving them through house walls and into sidewalks. No race or class was spared its wrath. In less than twenty-four hours, a single storm had destroyed a major American metropolis—and awakened a nation to the terrifying power of nature.

    Blending an unforgettable cast of characters, accessible weather science, and deep historical research into a sweeping and dramatic narrative, The Storm of the Century brings this legendary hurricane and its aftermath into fresh focus. No other natural disaster has ever matched the havoc caused by the awesome mix of winds, rain, and flooding that devastated Galveston and shocked a young, optimistic nation on the cusp of modernity. Exploring the impact of the tragedy on a rising country’s confidence—the trauma of the loss and the determination of the response—Al Roker illuminates the United States’s character at the dawn of the “American Century,” while also underlining the fact that no matter how mighty they may become, all nations must respect the ferocious potential of our natural environment.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateAug 11, 2015
    ISBN9780062364678
    Author

    Al Roker

    Al Roker is cohost of NBC’s Today. He has received thirteen Emmy Awards, ten for his work on Today. He is the author of The Storm of the Century, an acclaimed history of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News and 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts, and has two daughters and a son.

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    Reviews for The Storm of the Century

    4.5/5

    12 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      In three parts; starting with history and science backgrounds; then moving on to utterly gripping personal narratives of the horrific event itself; and finishing with the aftermath, clean up, and outcomes for many inhabintants; Al Roker has presented a terrifyingly thrilling account of the 1900 Gulf Hurricane. I found myself racing back to my computer to listen to the next chapter every spare moment. Absolutely breathless with horror and hope throughout part 2, I was paralyzed with undiluted focus, riveted to every word. I will recommend this book over and over again!
    • 3/5
      While I found the book very interesting and informative - especially sections on meteorology, Weather Service history, and the amazing Galveston recovery - I was very surprised that is was so poorly written. Roker must have been his own editor. There were mistakes in sentence structure, word usage, syntax, and more. This became such a distraction, unfortunately, to an interesting read - so much so I was eager for it to end. For those out there looking for an excellent book on the subject I heartily recommend "Issac's Storm" by Eric Larson - much better.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book by Al Roker on the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. While he put the basic history in the book, he made sure you understood how young meteorology was at the time and the difficulty of getting people to understand the predicting of various types of dangerous weather. I also like how he went into the politics of why we were ignoring the information out of Cuba about the coming storm, and what the higher ups were doing to sabotage the information in Galveston. There was this whole chain of command that tied Isaac Cline's hands when it came to getting the information to the people of Galveston. For me, it was good to get this information and point of view added to the historical record. I really recommend the book if you're interested in natural disasters.*Reread 2017*I listened to the audiobook this time and hearing the descriptions of the aftermath made it much more real for me. Also since I have now been to Galveston and the surrounding areas I knew where many of the places mentioned are/were now so that helped as well.
    • 4/5
      An account of the terrible hurricane that struck Galveston, TX on 8 Sep 1900. I found the story of building the seawall and raising the height of the island and the buildings on it in the aftermath of the storm particularly interesting. I noted several proof reading ;problems at various points in the book.