Isaacs Storm, Erik Larson
Isaacs Storm, Erik Larson
4 Rating(s)
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Isaac's Storm
A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Author: Erik Larson

Narrator: Richard Davidson

Unabridged: 8 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/21/2020

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The riveting true story of the Galveston hurricane of 1900, still the deadliest natural disaster in American history—from the acclaimed author of The Devil in the White City

“A gripping account ... fascinating to its core, and all the more compelling for being true.” —The New York Times Book Review

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—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.

About Erik Larson

American born author, Erik Larson, grew up on Long Island and developed an interest in journalistic writing after seeing the movie "All the President's Men". He earned a degree in Russian history from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laudee, then a post graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1978.

Larson has written eight books, with six of them having been included on the New York Times Bestseller list. The latest books are: The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz; Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania; The Devil in the White City (which is being adapted for a mini series produced by Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio for hulu); In the Garden of Beasts (Optioned by Tom Hanks); and Isaac's Storm.

Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife, a neonatologist, who has written a book of her own titled, Almost Home. Her husband says it could "make a stone cry". They have three daughters in various professions and live in different locations. They also have the ashes of their beloved dog Molly on a shelf overlooking Central Park.

Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on March 23, 2019

erik larson is the darling of the narrative nonfiction world, and while this is the first of his books i have read, i’ve long appreciated his commitment to cover-consistency: and then there’s this one, breaking up the visual flow: written in 1999, this is one of his first, and i can only assume that,......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on September 17, 2007

Ever want to read a nonfiction tragedy about a presumptive meteorologist? Exactly. Still, Isaac's Storm is an engaging cautionary tale, and one with a bit of relevance for America today. In fact the book is almost foreshadowing in that it was published just a couple of years before Hurricane Katrina......more

Goodreads review by Paul on January 08, 2025

I find it difficult even to comprehend the scale of the Galveston hurricane of 1900. So much devastation, so many lives lost (the estimates seem to run from 6,000 to as high as 12,000) -- it is hard to wrap one's mind around, and probably not a healthy thing to spend too much time contemplating. Yet......more

Goodreads review by Joe on January 18, 2024

As a kid I often heard my Dad playing Glen Campbell's song 'Galveston' on our hi-fi, so I couldn't help thinking about it as I read ISAAC'S STORM. In 1900 Galveston was hit by a hurricane. Politics and inter-service rivalry had a hand in causing the death of some 6,000 to maybe 10,000 people, making......more

Goodreads review by Michael on June 27, 2018

Erik Larson has the mind of a dedicated historian and the heart of a yarn-spinning storyteller. ISSAC'S STORM was everything I had hoped it would be, both scrupulously detailed and as enthralling as any Hollywood disaster blockbuster. It should come as no surprise really, as Larson has demonstrated......more

Quotes

“A gripping account ... fascinating to its core, and all the more compelling for being true.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“Gripping ... the Jaws of hurricane yarns.” —The Washington Post

"The best storm book I've read, consumed mostly in twenty-four hours; these pages filled me with dread. Days later, I am still glancing out the window nervously. A well-told story." —Daniel Hays, author of My Old Man and the Sea

"Isaac's Storm so fully swept me away into another place, another time that I didn't want it to end. I braced myself from the monstrous winds, recoiled in shock at the sight of flailing children floating by, and shook my head at the hubris of our scientists who were so convinced that they had the weather all figured out. Erik Larson's writing is luminous, the story absolutely gripping. If there is one book to read as we enter a new millennium, it's Isaac's Storm, a tale that reminds us that there are forces at work out there well beyond our control, and maybe even well beyond our understanding." —Alex Kotlowitz, author of The Other Side of the River and There Are No Children Here

"There is electricity in these pages, from the crackling wit and intelligence of the prose to the thrillingly described terrors of natural mayhem and unprecedented destruction. Though brimming with the subtleties of human nature, the nuances of history, and the poetry of landscapes, Isaac's Storm still might best be described as a sheer page turner." —Melissa Faye Greene, author of Praying for Sheetrock and The Temple Bombing

"Superb…. Larson has made [Isaac] Cline, turn-of-the-century Galveston, and the Great Hurricane live again." —The Wall Street Journal

"Erik Laron's accomplishment is to have made this great-storm story a very human one —thanks to his use of the large number of survivors' accounts—without ignoring the hurricane itself." —The Boston Globe

"Vividly captures the devastation." —Newsday

"This brilliant exploration of the hurrican's deadly force...tracks the gathering storm as if it were a character…. Larson has the storyteller's gift of keeping the reader spellbound." —The Times-Picayune

"With consumate narrative skill and insight into turn-of-the-century American culture…. Larson's story is about the folly of all who believe that man can master or outwit the forces of nature." —The News & Observer

"A powerful story ... a classic tale of mankind versus nature." —The Christian Science Monitor

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