Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, And The Deadliest Hurricane In History (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
It's probably more than a little shameful to admit it post-Katrina, but weather porn can be deeply satisfying. Hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, tsunamis, mudslides, styrofoam impaling oak trees, low pressure troughs, the Beaufort scale - don't you feel a little tingly already? When we combine weather porn with the romance of a good story, we get Sebastian Junger and The Perfect Storm: the perfect balance between good science and great storytelling, weaving characters, lives, rescue efforts, and the molecules of the air and the ocean into a seamless tale, juxtaposing the calm detachment of scientific description with the heart-pounding trauma of danger and death.I was hoping for more of the same with Isaac's Storm, but it was not to be. In 1900 the low-lying barrier island of Galveston, Texas was hit head-on by a massive hurricane -- in fact, by two almost simultaneous storm surges, one from the Gulf of Mexico and one from the bay behind Galveston -- that wiped out a good portion of the city and killed between 6,000 and 10,000 men, women and children, and hundreds of horses and cows and other animals. Erik Larson, the author, chooses to examine the disaster through the eyes of the local Weather Bureau head, Isaac Cline. From a weather porn standpoint, this was not a good choice. It's clear that Larson focuses on Isaac Cline so that he can examine the issues of hubris and human flaws: Isaac's own hubris in failing to predict the storm, and the hubris of the newly modern science of weather and climate prediction. (In fact, the Weather Bureau in Cuba did forecast the hurricane, but it continued on to the Florida coast, and Isaac was blinded by his overconfident pronouncements years earlier that a hurricane could not travel west across the Gulf from Florida.) But Isaac didn't leave very much personal material for the historical record (the main source is his 1945 memoir), and what archival material exists on him is exceedingly dry; thus we are subjected to pages and pages of tedious description of Isaac's early career in the Signal Corps at Fort Myer.Perhaps to compensate for the aridity of his source material, Larson waxes verbosely in little weather-related asides, as in this poem to the atmosphere of Cameroon:The air contained water: haze, steam, vapor; the stench of day-old kill and the greetings of men glad to awaken from the cool mystery of night...An invisible paisley of plumes and counterplumes formed above the earth, the pattern as ephemeral as the copper and bronze veils that appear when water enters whiskey.Larson tries very hard to play up the rivalry between Isaac and his younger brother Joseph, who also worked in the Galveston Weather Bureau, describing in detail their disagreements over the storm, their estrangement, the way Joseph never mentions Isaac by name in his autobiography. Since I didn't care about Isaac, I found this story line less than compelling too.Larson might have redeemed himself with vivid descriptions of the storm hitting Galveston -- which he does, to a degree. But his narrative becomes confusing since he is trying to follow so many separate families and individuals, as well as travel back and forth through time, from early evening to nightfall to morning. The water is knee-high at one time and location, waist high at another, neck high at another -- is the water ebbing and flowing, or are we travelling back in time, or is it that the water is higher in one person's house because it is low-lying? I didn't know, and eventually I didn't care. I could have read 700 more pages of The Perfect Storm, but Isaac's Storm at 280 seemed about 200 pages too bloated.The storytelling is also hindered by the absence of photographs. We know they exist, because Larson mentions them, but why weren't they included? Given the tedium of the narrative, they would have provided a welcome distraction.A final point of irritation is Larson's habit of filling in the gaps where the historical record is incomplete. Junger was faced with the problem of having to create a narrative where none existed, since there were no witnesses or survivors to the sinking of the Andrea Gail. He painted a vivid picture of what the men's last hours and moments must have been like, based on readings and measurements from the closest water buoys, and other scientific data. Larson, on the other hand, has all the important historical verification he needs but chooses to embellish the details anyway: Isaac must have gone to this bath house since it was near his house, and must have read books like these. Venomous snakes must have spiralled up into the trees as the floodwaters rose, because we know this happened in later hurricanes. One source cites one name for an orphanage survivor, another source cites another; Larson picks one arbitrarily. Isaac must have checked all the hospitals and morgues looking for his wife, based on the fact that this is what scores of other people were doing, even though what he actually did in the days immediately following the storm is a complete mystery. Isaac must have had happy, blissful dreams, only to awaken to gloom and grief, because Freud's 1900 Interpretation of Dreams states that every dream is a wish fulfillment, and "what survivor of a tragedy has never dreamed that the outcome had been different?"It's one thing to suggest that something may have happened in such a way because the preponderance of historical evidence suggests so, as long as you're merely suggesting. To assert something as fact that you don't know is anti-historical. It's not that different from fiction. Larson's modus operandi is to state something as if it were fact in the text, and then to explain in the endnotes that it's not really fact. For example, when Isaac finally finds his wife's body, Larson writes, "Isaac kept [her wedding ring:], had it enlarged, and wore it himself. It was this ring that gleamed like a beacon from his photographic portrait. He wore it also on December 31, 1900, when Galveston prepared to enter the twentieth century." If you bother to read the endnotes, Larson confesses, "Isaac nowhere states this. It is conjecture, purely, but I base it on...Isaac's essentially romantic character; his devotion to Cora; his deep knowledge of portraiture and the symbolic messages embedded within by their painters..."In the end, I was left wondering how a story about so much water could be so dry.
Popular history with just enough science thrown in to explain what happened without causing the reader to go cross-eyed. Fast moving and engrossing in the tradition of the best suspense/disaster fiction only the 1900 Galveston Hurricane was real. Somewhere between 6,000-8,0000 people lost their lives and the city of Galveston, Texas sustained a body blow that derailed it's ambitions of becoming one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the United States. It's now a moderate sized city that relies on tourism and the insurance industry (historical irony I believe) for it's economic well being. It was long ago passed up by it's business rival Houston. The 1900 hurricane played a large part in that and "Issac's Storm" details what happened on September 8. 1900. The book is gripping. Sucks you in and keeps you reading. I was pleasantly surprised that it was so engrossing (often I find this type of pop history to be a bit lacking) and kept turning the pages. I only put it down when I had to. Not a long read it feels like a very well done in-depth article for a monthly periodical. Now for a couple weak points. The book cried out for photos. Thankfully the Internet provides not only photos but even a couple short movies of the clean-up that were made by Edison's people. In addition there are individuals in the book that show up once or twice and then never returned to. In particular I kept waiting to come back to Rabbi Cohen and his family, but we never see them again after pages 155-158 (paperback edition)Once again ,thanks to the Internet, and several Texas based historical societies, I was able to learn what happened to the Cohen family (they all survived and prospered) as well as many others mentioned in passing. The book is short and thousands were effected and I understand that not everyone can be covered in-depth. The main focus in on Isaac Cline and his family, but to have the reader follow the Cohen family for three pages and then to never mention them again is something of a mistake. In my humble opinion.Well regardless of those quibbles "Issac's Storm" is very well written. Give it a try. I live in Idaho so hurricanes aren't really a problem, but it would make a nice read if you're at the beach during a garden-variety tropical storm. Just enough to make you stop and listen when a particularly powerful gust of wind rocks the walls.
What do You think about Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, And The Deadliest Hurricane In History (2000)?
“Galveston became Atlantis.”If you enjoy non-fiction, you need to read Erik Larson’s books.If you don’t enjoy non-fiction, you need to read Erik Larson’s books. :)But for real internet, he is one author who can turn anyone into a non-fiction reader. Not only because he’s an excellent and engaging writer, but he writes about historical episodes that are completely fascinating, like my book club’s recent read: Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History.Knowing Texas as it is in 2014, it’s pretty mind-boggling to think at one point in history Galveston was battling Houston for first place in, well, anything. It truly put in perspective what a devastating storm can do to alter history. “If there were a Pulitzer for bleak irony, however, it would go to the News for its Saturday-morning report on one of the most important local stories of the year—the Galveston count of the 1900 U.S. census, which the newspaper had first announced on Friday. The news was excellent: Over the last decade of the nineteenth century, the city’s population had increased by 29.93 percent, the highest growth rate of any southern city counted so far.”The first half gives a lot of background. From the history of hurricanes to the cities involved, the background and history lay a solid foundation not only of the characters, but how weather forecasting was handled in different parts of the world. I wasn’t expecting that much background, but it gives a more broader understanding of how big this storm was and the rippling effects.When the book began to dive into that fateful day of the hurricane, I couldn't put the book down. It’s an intense tale to read, but I found I couldn’t pull myself away from the pages.Dealing with a natural disaster is going to bring gut-wrenching facts (I did have to stop reading for a while after the part about the destruction of an orphanage and the lives lost, i.e. kids), but even with painful truths of the story, Larson is able to deliver without being overwhelming or too descriptive. It’s no easy task, but one he has mastered.I couldn’t help but wonder why did people stay? If water is filling up and reaching my steps…y’all I’m out! This story (and people’s stubbornness, pride, fear, whatever), is another fascinating aspect of the book. It’s just sad to think that it caused many people their lives.I think I like In the Garden of Beasts a bit more, but it’s a close one. Both are intriguing stories and written fantastically.Anyone else a Larson fan? I’m so excited he has a new book coming out soon!! Are you a big non-fiction reader?Originally posted at http://booksandbeverages.org/2014/09/...
—Jamie
The first “intimation” of the true extent of the disaster, Benjamin recalled, “came when the body of a child floated into the station.”Doesn't that send a chill down your spine? The true story of the 1900 Galveston hurricane is told in the dramatic, gripping style I am coming to love. Erik Larsen's Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History is superb. His description of the storm's progression and finally hitting Galveston is riveting. Having gone through a hurricane before, Larsen has convinced me not to tempt Mother Nature again.
—Mike
Erik Larson delivers every time. He has the rare ability to take historical events and weave together yarns that in the end feel like you're reading a page-turning novel. In "Isaac's Storm" Larson takes us to a thriving seaside city in Texas circa 1900, to a time when people felt they could 'control' nature. He paints the story of how the infamous hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, on September 8th of that year devastated not just a whole community but also destroyed people's faith in man's ability to accurately predict the weather. "Isacc's Storm" blind-sided everyone -and what we learn is that there were in fact many dynamics at play that led to its terrible surprise - political, competitive, as well as scientific that ultimately failed the people of Galveston. There were amongst other things, no calls to evacuate. In fact, no one even knew that the oncoming storm was a hurricane, and in the end the death toll was over 8,000 - still to this day the highest death toll resultant of any of our country's natural disasters. Not only does Larson take us back to this time and place and through the storm where we literally feel like we're in the 'eye' of the hurricane with its victims and survivors, but also in the end, in hindsight, it's a lesson in how storms, real and figurative, can blow through and sideswipe the most cautious and unassuming of any of us.It's a reminder of how the unexpected is always upon us. P.s. The amount of detail and research and accuracy of depiction to this story in and of itself make it worth the read. Highly recommended!
—Rachel
