Browse all books

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

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

    Erik Larson

    eBook (Vintage, Oct. 19, 2011)
    At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900, a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd things seemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco. The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston with greater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa, immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and great currents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbulence slipped from the coast of western Africa. Most such waves faded quickly. This one did not.In Cuba, America's overconfidence was made all too obvious by the Weather Bureau's obsession with controlling hurricane forecasts, even though Cuba's indigenous weathermen had pioneered hurricane science. As the bureau's forecasters assured the nation that all was calm in the Caribbean, Cuba's own weathermen fretted about ominous signs in the sky. A curious stillness gripped Antigua. Only a few unlucky sea captains discovered that the storm had achieved an intensity no man alive had ever experienced.In Galveston, reassured by Cline's belief that no hurricane could seriously damage the city, there was celebration. Children played in the rising water. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky, until the surf began ripping the city's beloved beachfront apart. Within the next few hours Galveston would endure a hurricane that to this day remains the nation's deadliest natural disaster. In Galveston alone at least 6,000 people, possibly as many as 10,000, would lose their lives, a number far greater than the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.And Isaac Cline would experience his own unbearable loss.Meticulously researched and vividly written, Isaac's Storm is based on Cline's own letters, telegrams, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the hows and whys of great storms. Ultimately, however, it is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets nature's last great uncontrollable force. As such, Isaac's Storm carries a warning for our time.
  • Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson, Edward Herrmann, Random House Audio

    Audible Audiobook (Random House Audio, Sept. 15, 2005)
    From the best-selling author of The Devil in the White City, here is the true story of the deadliest hurricane in history. National best seller September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the US 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 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. 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.
  • Isaac's Storm ,A Man, a Time, &the Deadliest Hurricane in History 1999 publication

    Erik Larson

    Unknown Binding (Kelllelldaaa, March 15, 2000)
    Softcover, tight binding and clean pages.
  • Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson

    Hardcover (Diane Pub Co, April 1, 1999)
    At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900, a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.In Galveston, reassured by Cline's belief that no hurricane could seriously damage the city, there was celebration. Children played in the rising water. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky - until the surf began ripping the city's beloved beachfront apart. Within the next few hours Galveston would endure a hurricane that to this day remains the nation's deadliest natural disaster. Isaac's Storm is based on Cline's own letters, telegrams, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the hows and whys of great storms. Ultimately, however, it is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets nature's last great uncontrollable force. As such, Isaac's Storm carries a warning for our time.
  • Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson, Isaac Monroe Cline

    Hardcover (G K Hall & Co, Feb. 1, 2000)
    Provides an account of the hurricane which struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, and killed as many as ten thousand people.
  • Isaac's Storm : The Drowning of Galveston

    Erik Larson

    Paperback (Harpercollins Pub Ltd, May 31, 2000)
    Galveston, Texas, 8 September 1900. It's another fine day in the Gulf according to Isaac Cline, chief observer of the new US Weather Bureau, but one day later, 6-10,000 people were dead, wiped out by the biggest storm the coast of America had ever witnessed. Isaac Cline was confident of his ability to predict the weather: he had new technology at his disposal, 'perfect science', and, like America itself, he was sure that he was in control of his world, that the new century would be the American century, that the future was man's to command. And the coastal city of Galveston was a prosperous, enthusiastic place -- a jewel of progress and contentment, a model for the new century. The storm blew up in Cuba. It was, in modern jargon, an X-storm -- an extreme hurricane -- and it did not circle around the Gulf of Mexicao as storms routinely did. On 8 September 1900 it ploughed straight into Galveston. It was the meteorological equivalent of the Big One. It was to be the worst natural disaster ever to befall America to this day: between six and ten thousand people died, including Isaac Cline's wife and unborn child. With them died Cline's and America's hubris: the storm had simply blown them away. Told with a novelist's skill this is the true story of an awful and terrible natural catastrophe.
  • Isaac's Storm : A Man, a Time, and the Deadlest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson, Richard M. Davidson

    Audio Cassette (Recorded Books, March 15, 2000)
    Unabridged verson on 7 cassette tapes.
  • ISAAC'S STORM: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900

    Erik Larson

    Paperback (Vintage Books, March 15, 2000)
    ISAAC'S STORM: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900 (View amazon detail page) ASIN: B001IDLCC8
  • Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson, Edward Herrmann

    Audio CD (Random House Audio, Aug. 24, 1999)
    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.From the Trade Paperback edition.
  • Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

    Erik Larson, Isaac Monroe Cline

    Paperback (G K Hall & Co, Jan. 1, 2001)
    Provides an account of the hurricane which struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, and killed as many as ten thousand people.
  • E.Larson's Isaac's Storm

    E.Larson

    Hardcover (Crown, March 15, 1999)
    Excellent Book
  • ISAAC'S STORM

    Erik Larson

    Hardcover (Crown Publishers, March 15, 1999)
    None