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Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History | 
 enlarge | Author: Erik Larson
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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You Save: $4.78 (32%)
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Rating:  259 reviews
Sales Rank: 13814
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0375708278
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.4139
EAN: 9780375708275
ASIN: 0375708278
Publication Date: July 11, 2000
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com Review
Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney
Product Description
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 in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devestating 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. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 254 more reviews...
 Exciting, detailed true story December 7, 2008
Isaac's Storm is a wonderful book, well-researched and well-written. The attention to detail and accuracy is excellent. The scientific and historical detail on storms, hurricanes, and weather forecasting was fascinating. It was particularly interesting to get to know Isaac Cline. However, the story of the hurricane and the people of Galveston was the best part of the book, so exciting that I could hardly put the book down. I can whole-heartedly recommend the book.
Excellent November 16, 2008
I totally enjoyed this book. I read it for a book club and didn't expect to like it so much. I spent a lot of my childhood in Galveston in the 1940's and there were people there at that time who had lived through the storm and still talked about it. It is very well researched and I found myself picturing exactly where things were happening and feeling a part of it. Next weekend I'm planning a nostalgic trip to Galveston to see what it looks like after hurricane Ike passed through.
I've always said the Weatherman prevails even when he's wrong{{ September 6, 2008
Erik Larson has documented an extraordinary narrative of an epic storm which killed over 6,000 people and wiped out the City of Galveston, Texas.
Here we find Isaac Cline employed as the resident U.S. Weather meteorologist failing to warn the residents of Galveston of an epic hurricane which was larger and more powerful than Hurricane Katrina which happened 105 years later.
It's rather incredible that hardly any warning was given. Isaac Cline was a good man. He just made a great mistake. This is a gripping true tale. Larsen wrote a great book. Five Stars!!
a reminder of tragedy August 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Isaac's Storm, published in 1999, is the story of the most horrible hurricane in American history. While reading, I wondered if Hurricane Katrina had outstripped the Galveston hurricane described by Larson. It did not. The Galveston hurricane claimed at least 6,000 lives and the entire town. Hurricane Katrina, however, claimed less than 2,000 lives according to most estimates. While Katrina is the most tragic natural disaster of our age, our forebears experienced even worse. The Isaac of the title is Isaac Cline, the U.S. Weather Bureau's chief observer in Galveston. Larson weaves meteorological details of the storm with the story of Isaac and other Galveston residents as well as the bureaucratic failures that left the city vulnerable. The story is touching and, at times, horrifying. Larson clearly conveys the fear residents felt during the storm and the way it changed the lives of survivors forever. I cannot imagine living through such an ordeal. This is a wonderful precursor of Larson's later work, The Devil in the White City. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed that book.
Never thought I'd enjoy a book about the weather so much! August 18, 2008
I had never given much thought to the origins of weather forecasting. This book goes through much of the history (and the politics) of how it all began in the US through the life of weatherman Issac Cline, who, in being a perfect product of his time, makes it all fascinating . I did not want to put this book down. This book takes us back and forth between the history of weather and the creation and path of a dangerous storm that eventually devastates a Texas coastal town.
Highly recommend!
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