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

Isaac's Storm does an incredible job detailing the possible meteorological events that contribute to the creation of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. What Erik Larson does even better than describing the mechanics of the storm is retelling the stories of the people of Galveston who were affected by the hurricane. Using multiple sources, Larson was able to construct a highly intense and emotional narrative that takes the reader back to the moments before, during, and after the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. From the head weather observer of the weather station in Galveston to a single mom running a boarding house, Larson writes in depth the experiences and the emotions that the people of Galveston faced during on of the most dangerous storms in American history.

The story moves slowly through the technological exploration of weather forecasting by metereologists. Then as fast as a storm develops you are swept into the lives of the people experiencing the devastation of their homes, family and their lives. A very real account of hurricanes and their capability of destruction.

As timely now as when I first read this years ago (with recent events in mind). While meteorology was still a relatively new science, this book details the two separate forecasts of a minor storm in Florida in late August 1900- one was correct, the other was not. The main subject of the book, Isacc Cline, would have to be the one to give the inevitable warning as the signs of something much worse approached on September 8, 1900. And how the lives of his wife and children, his younger brother, and the residents of the popular Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas would never be the same.