Amazon.com
On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city, while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history.
In Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston, its people, and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm, Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm's aftermath. There's Louisa Rollfing, who begged her husband, August, not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary's orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer, who huddled in his bathroom with his family and neighbors, hoping to ride out the storm. At the center of it all is Isaac Cline, employee of the nascent Weather Bureau, and his younger brother--and rival weatherman--Joseph. Larson does an excellent job of piecing together Isaac's life and reveals that Isaac was not the quick-thinking hero he claimed to be after the storm ended. The storm itself, however, is the book's true protagonist--and Larson describes its nuances in horrific detail.
At times the prose is a bit too purple, but Larson is engaging and keeps the book's tempo rising in pace with the wind and waves. Overall, Isaac's Storm recaptures at a time when, standing in the first year of the century, Americans felt like they ruled the world--and that even the weather was no real threat to their supremacy. Nature proved them wrong. --Sunny Delaney
Amazon.com Audiobook 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
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:
NO PICTURES.......2007-09-30
My first thoughts after finishing Isaac's storm was, that for such a big and devastating storm, it didn't seem do it justice. I wanted understanding (why didn't people leave?). I wanted some PICTURES!!.
As luck had it, someone who checked out the book before me had tucked a newspaper clipping pic in the inside flap, of the Bishops Palace and surrounding survivors w/ tons of lumber stacked up against them. THANK YOU whoever you are. I returned the picture to the flap.
Whatever happened to Dr. Samuel O.Young the amateur meteorologist? Sam kept a diary. And it seems was the only proactive person in town, in that he telegraphed his wife and children warning them not to come to Galveston because in his opinion, a big storm was coming.
One reviewer here claims Cline is a hero in Galveston but "Cline gave his official meteorological opinion that the thought of a hurricane ever doing any serious harm to Galveston was "An absurd delusion". Many residents had called for a seawall to protect the city, but Cline's statement helped to prevent its construction."
"Local legend has it that Cline took it upon himself to travel along the beach and other low-lying areas warning people personally of the storm's approach. This is based on Cline's own reports and has been called into question in recent years.
Cline did issue a hurricane warning without permission from the Bureau's central office in Washington, D.C. but by that point the city was already under water. I don't recall reading that Cline actually told anyone to get off the island..
I enjoyed the book but minus one star for lack of pictures.
I hear that John Edward Weems' book 'A Weekend in September' is also recommended reading on the 1900 storm.
Erik Larson is Quickly Becoming a Favorite.......2007-09-10
"Isaac's Storm" is a fictionalized telling of a real-time tragedy. It tells the story of the hurricane that devastated Galveston and provides impressive details on the history and science of meteorology. For the story-telling aspect of the novel, Mr. Larson uses Isaac Cline, Galveston's weather observer at the time.
Erik Larson's committment to research and detail is impeccable. I wish he had been my history teacher in high school!
Book is a Category 4.......2007-09-10
I enjoyed the book. It reminded me of a hurricane, starting slow but building as it went along.
BEATS READING THE BOOK.......2007-09-05
THIS DEFINATELY BEATS READING THE BOOK, BUT TAKE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE ABRIDGED VERSION!!!
Issacc's Storm.......2007-07-23
Again, another book by a great author, Erik Larson. I couldn't put it down, but then again I live in Florida and Hurricanes are of special interest to me. I'm not sure if you didn't live in a hurricane area, example Alaska, that this book would strike you the way it did me.
Average customer rating:
- Thank The Gods For These Books!
- Off-beat humor at its finest
- Experience Florida as only Serge can...
- King of Hard Edge
- Needs More Mescaline
|
Hurricane Punch: A Novel
Tim Dorsey
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Big Bamboo
-
Nature Girl
-
Hunter's Moon
-
Florida Roadkill: A Novel
-
Torpedo Juice : A Novel
ASIN: 0060829672
Release Date: 2007-01-23 |
Book Description
Serge A. Storms is back where he belongs.
But there's a serial killer loose again in the Sunshine State. And then a second one. . . . Naturally, professional jealousy arises, and they begin competing with each other. They're thoughtful enough to keep the public informed by sending dueling letters to the local newspaper.
A record hurricane season complicates police efforts––but only delights over–the–top Florida–buff Serge, who becomes immersed the state's rich storm history.
Customer Reviews:
Thank The Gods For These Books!.......2007-08-31
This whole series of books by Tim Dorsey can be described as a twisted and funny study on the dark side in all of human beings. Tim Dorsey manages to take everyday situations and make them incredibly funny. Based in Florida, the series follows the twisted life of Serge Storms (one of the best characters ever created) and all his sick, violent and disturbed adventures. Of course, along the way you will get to meet every kind of character you can imagine.
The interesting thing about this series is that behind all the funny stories, there are tons of social and political criticisms. I have read all the books in the series, and each one keeps getting better. If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino movies, Family Guy cartoons or South Park cartoons, you will love these books. A MUST BUY.
Off-beat humor at its finest.......2007-04-25
Where have I been? Tim Dorsey has eight earlier novels--and I've just discovered his scathing and raucous humor. I have a whole lot of catching up to do.
Hurricane season is about to pound the life out of Florida. It seems a serial killer, or maybe two, is on the loose and if he isn't caught, the body count will skyrocket.
Dorsey's loveable (can that be true?) psychopath, Serge has a weird sense of moral justice. He's not opposed to killing someone, he just prefers that they deserve death. He's not only a walking encyclopedia on all things Florida, but he loves hurricanes.
Serge is dedicated in righting wrong doings. Even if that means someone must die. But he balks at the newspaper calling him a serial killer.
Agent Mahoney (recently released from a mental hospital for getting too far into Serge's head) believes Serge is the serial killer and his personality is splitting from years of experiencing the good and better parts of life. He's determined to bring down Serge.
Coleman, Serge's friend, is forever 'high' and that just might be what derails Serge. In the meantime, Coleman is along for the ride of his life and will do anything if it only means he can avoid getting a job.
As the storms increase, Tampa Bay's favorite journalist is getting all the newspaper 'scoops.' He's contacted by the killer and will help Agent Mahoney in his quest to stop a bumbling, but very lucky madman who denies being a serial killer--who denies it by writing letters to the newspaper, dueling letters with another killer.
Is Serge a serial killer? Will the hurricanes get the best of Florida and be the undoing of Serge? Will Mahoney get his man, or men? And what will happen to our mild-mannered reporter?
Dorsey is simply brilliant. His edgy humor leaves nothing in society untouched by his unique view of life. The novel is more of a series vignettes strung together to make a raucous novel. By the time you turn the last page, you just might believe that Serge makes a whole lot of sense--and that's a scary scenario. '
Armchair Interviews says: Hurricane Punch packs a wallop and leaves the reader wanting more of Dorsey's off beat humor. It's a winner.
Experience Florida as only Serge can..........2007-04-19
OK... I'm caught back up with Tim Dorsey since I finished Hurricane Punch this evening. Serge and Coleman are on the loose in Florida again, and hurricane season takes on a whole new meaning...
The (very!) loose story-line is that Agent Mahoney, freshly released from the psych ward, is convinced that he can nab Serge this time around. He teams up with a newspaper reporter, McSwirley, who doesn't want to do crime beat stories any more. Unfortunately, he's really good at it even though he tries everything possible to sabotage the stories. A series of murders are occurring with each new hurricane that rips through Florida, and Mahoney thinks that Serge is responsible for all of them. Of course, with Serge's sense of "justice" and rather creative ways to off people, it's entirely possible. Within that framework, you've got all the wacky, off-the-wall action that you've come to expect from a Dorsey novel. And along the way, you've got all the little obscure Florida history lessons that only someone like Serge would know and share.
If you've read a Dorsey novel, you know how incredibly funny and bizarre they are. This one ranks right up there. If you've never read one, be prepared for anything and everything to happen. This was a lot of fun, and I don't think I'll ever view the number 20 in the same way again...
(You'll need to read the book to get that one...)
King of Hard Edge.......2007-04-11
Dorsey is king of the hard edged, humorous serial killer spree thriller and
proves it here again.
Needs More Mescaline.......2007-04-10
Coleman and Serge are back in Miami, and so is Mahoney, the cop who's been trying to put Serge away with such little success he himself was just released from the loony bin. Mahoney is hot on Serge's trail again, this time enlisting the help of empathetic reporter, Jeff McSwirley. McSwirley's bosses want the ratings an exclusive with Serge will bring, and Mahoney just wants Serge, especially since he thinks Serge's personality is beginning to split. Or are there two killers now? The usual hijinks and mishaps ensue as Serge visits his therapist in between driving a stolen Hummer through the number of hurricanes that hit the Florida coast and offing a few deserving bozos along the way.
There were several times this book made me laugh out loud, but I have to wonder if Dorsey isn't losing his touch in much the same way Mahoney believed Serge was unraveling. This book doesn't lack a cohesive theme so much as the theme is basically irrelevant. Whereas Dorsey's books used to seem like a series of bizarre, seemingly unrelated events that all worked toward a central theme, the last couple have been a lot of Serge and Coleman wandering around with little purpose. This time their aimless wandering was the result of following hurricanes, but it still lacked any kind of reasoning, other than experiencing the rush. That may be how Coleman does things, but Serge has always had some kind of a plan until recently.
Anyone reading these books loves Serge and finds humor in Coleman's creative substance abuse, but there really has to be more going on than that. A successful series needs not only good recurring characters, but a good story to follow every time out. Road trips in stolen cars are what Serge and Coleman do, but it's more fun to accompany them if there's a reason why they're out there. Tim Dorsey is always worth reading, but I'm hoping his next book will give me a little more something to relish.
Book Description
In the waning days of summer, 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana.
This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans. As James Lee Burke's new novel, The Tin Roof Blowdown, begins, Hurricane Katrina has left the commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid of the city has been destroyed, New Orleans reduced to the level of a medieval society. There is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. Bodies float in the streets and lie impaled on the branches of flooded trees. In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city.
In a singular style that defies genre, James Lee Burke has created a hauntingly bleak picture of life in New Orleans after Katrina. Filled with complex characters and depictions of people at both their best and worst, The Tin Roof Blowdown is not only an action-packed crime thriller, but a poignant story of courage and sacrifice that critics are already calling Burke's best work.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-10-19
I love Mr Burke's writing. But in this story his interjections of his political statements are not only lies but they take away from the story.
Katrina was bad, but not the worst disaster in US history as he claims.
Nor were the body counts as high etc.
And I am not a Bush fan but blaming him for this disaster is bunk.....decades of Lousiana political corruption and the inability of LA citizens to vote in better officials is a much bigger part of the levees breaking.
The list goes on....
Do better Burke.
Vintage Robicheaux.......2007-10-17
I don't think I'll ever get tired of reading James Lee Burke's description of the colors and smells of -- rain, the bayou, the night air, everything.
His narrative holds together as always and has a great ending. It is made more poignant by the setting -- New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.
I do wish that Dave's wife and daughter were not always in danger in the Robicheaux series, but it happens here again. You can see it coming a mile away. The daughter is maturing nicely, as is his own, I hear.
Totally unbelievable.......2007-10-12
Oh, Mr. Burke. Why didn't you donate the profits from this book to the recovery efforts on New Orleans? I've heard of limo liberals but a cowboy liberal? What, Montana is your home now?
Our boy Dave is the most confused cop ever. He can persecute a man for both defending his wife and child and revenging the rape of his daughter but not when it's Dave's daughter? Now it's OK to shoot to kill?
Dave is unlike any police officer who has ever lived. In this novel he ignores all the lowlife crap he sees every day and goes by the book?
I am neither right wing or left wing and, in fact, deplore the polarization I see in today's politics which I suspect will eventually reduce our country to ruin, and which I read in Burke's book. So, Bush was responsible for Katrina? Not the centuries of corruption in New Orleans and Louisiana? And right wing Fox television is bad but not left wing CNN? It's making Dave into a bleeding heart liberal that offended me. And "Whitey" is the reason all those poor disadvantaged minority kids grew up into rapists and sadistic murderers?
Geez, Burke! I guess you see things different living on that million dollar ranch in Montana.
And the purple prose that runs through the book. Can you describe a bayou any more poetically?
Haunting and heartbreaking.......2007-10-10
Although the reviews would have you believe this book is about the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, don't kid yourself into thinking that this story starts and stops with the physical destruction caused by those storms. In the evocative language that is the hallmark of Burke's writing, he saturates the reader in a wide range of emotion from a cast of charismatic villains, victims, saints and sinners. The sheer scope of issues he covers is staggering: Besides the destruction of the storms and the willing complicity of our government in the ensuing loss of life, he acknowledges in heartrending clarity the degree of courage and humanity possessed by those who worked through their own losses and exhaustion to help those who needed it most. Beyond the immediate impact of the storms, Burke explores the results of parental cruelty and bigotry; he closely examines the angry protectiveness of parents whose children have been violated or threatened; he looks at the lifelong dependent and independent relationship of the child to the parent. He shows us that even the most degenerate person can be capable of great humanity, and yet irredeemable evil does still walk among us. Burke also touches on man's relationship to God in the midst of woes worthy of Job. (Does the missing priest for whom Detective Robicheaux searches represent nothing less than our own missing faith?). Just reading this book on the surface, it is outstanding crime fiction. But reading below the surface, Burke gives us so much more. This is the best book I've read in -- I don't know how long. It is a masterpiece of art, sociology, psychology, and political commentary. And, oh, yeah, it's a superlative piece of crime fiction. It demands to be read more than once in order to grasp the complexities that, frankly, are jam-packed into the story. Hovering like a sorrowful angel above the characters is Burke's passionate eulogy for NOLA and a culture we may never again witness. I wish I could give this book a crown of stars, not just amazon's five piddly ones.
It is to weep.......2007-10-09
A long time James Lee Burke fan, I read this book while waiting for a colonoscopy. Not only did it make me forget where I was, it made me weep three times.
Book Description
In late September 2005, Robert Polidori traveled to New Orleans to record the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and by the city's broken levees. He found the streets deserted, and, without electricity, eerily dark. The next day he began to photograph, house by house: "All the places I went in, the doors were just open. They had been opened by what I collectively call Ithe army,' of maybe 20 National Guards from New Hampshire, 15 policemen from Minneapolis, 20 firefighters from New York... On maybe half of them or a third of them that I went in, I think that the occupants had been there prior. And some of them did leave certain funeral-like mementos before they left. Maybe right after the waters receded they had the chance to just--to go back to their place and just see, and realize there's nothing worth saving." Amidst all this, Polidori has found something worth saving, has created mementos for those who could not return, documenting the paradoxically beautiful wreckage. In classical terms, he has found ruins. The abandoned houses he recorded were still waterlogged as he entered and as he learned (by trial and error, a process that including finding a dead body) the language of signs and codes in which rescue workers had spray-painted each house's siding. He sees the resulting photographs as the work of a psychological witness, mapping the lives of the absent and deceased through what remains of their belongings and their homes.
Customer Reviews:
Katrina as Art.......2007-03-13
Silt has rendered a wonderous, pale beauty to the interior carnage of New Orlean's homes. Polidoris's project, a subsequentc 'invasion' of these domains, places on public record their devastation. It's a case of supreme technical skill, enshrining an ephemeral disaster. The denizens have hastily evacuated, leaving Polidori to rut in the trough of the city's ruin. Here, in one haunting page after another, the tidal muds that have rudely piled cars beneath houses in tragically asymmetrical congress, are made warm and close. It's relentless. You can almost handle the poignant detritus. We're led first through the haunting streets of uprooted poles, trees and weathereboards, of twisted metal. Then the rooms, the hearts and minds of individual suffering. Not snap-happy journalistic sensationalism, but hypnotically constructed images whose frozen testimonies have more permanence than the rented edifices they record. Polidori knows where to stand amidst the wreckage: his camera an unerring eye delving near and distantly with disturbing clarity. It is the very silence that entrances with singular eloquence and gravity. The wind and tide have subsided, but the havock endures in sulphurous washes and surreal configuration which 1000 installation artists would greet as a great funereal statement that transcends collective imagination. In a word, awesome, the currency of the Sublime. Polidori has wrested art from tragedy. Any of its 200 plus large format pages can be poured over for aesthetic reward, the more to dwell on vagabond Nature. Brilliant!
Photography as a "process of revelation".......2007-02-08
"After the Flood", the latest book by French Canadian Photographer, Robert Polidori, about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is also his largest and most powerful. It is as if his books on Havana and Chernobyl were mere foretastes to this exceptional and moving work, and certainly anyone who has seen these two books came away with a feeling of the power and storytelling that Polidori's images can convey. Polidori has the gift of the detailed eye that can simultaneously give the viewer images of beauty and revulsion in objects and textures. These alone tell the stories. There are no images of people necessary. It is as if he is capturing the tracks and shadows that humanity has left behind. He was able to show this in the urban decay of Havana and of the horrors of the rapid evacuation and subsequent reclamation of nature in Chernobyl. In "After the Flood", he presents us with an almost encyclopedic presentation of the aftermath of the hurricane, flooding, wind, water and mud damage showing the fragility of our cities and the power of nature.
The book contains at least 400 images, which have been carefully arranged. The first images show parts of the city still under water and the receding water. The next group shows the destruction caused by water inside the houses. Furniture has been picked up by the flood and re-arranged and we see the effects of water on different materials and soon notice the tell-tale brown lines on the walls, sometimes over six feet high, showing the high water mark. Succeeding groups of images show the effects of mud, water and wind on buildings and cars that have been tossed around at random like toys. Sometimes cars rest against houses in bizarre angles and sometimes the houses are laying on top of the cars. Several pages show smaller images of streets where every house was damaged and abandoned. The last set of images shows the clean up. Mounds of refuse in front of houses, temporary trailers, houses being cleaned and repaired. The effect is very powerful as we see how the lives of hundreds of thousands were affected and how many must have lost everything.
The book can only give a taste of the incredible detail the images contain. In a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art they could be seen as the original prints, each at about 40" by 54". They were taken with a large camera and according to Polidori with no lighting, as there was no electricity available at the time the shots were taken and lighting would have been to cumbersome in cramped and sometimes dangerous conditions. Only time exposures could show the incredible detail, which Polidori refers to as the "process of revelation". He call his work "a constant learning process", and anyone who looks at this book will not only learn, but will also ask questions as to how a disaster of this magnitude was possible, and to our place on this earth and our future here.
Review by Walter O. Koenig
Amazon.com
Bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley, a professor at Tulane University, lived through the destruction of Hurricane Katrina with his fellow New Orleans residents, and now in The Great Deluge he has written one of the first complete accounts of that harrowing week, which sorts out the bewildering events of the storm and its aftermath, telling the stories of unsung heroes and incompetent officials alike. Get a sample of his story--and clarify your own memories--by looking through the detailed timeline he has put together of the preparation, the hurricane, and the response to one of the worst disasters in American history.
Book Description
In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. Yet those wind-torn hours represented only the first stage of the relentless triple tragedy that Katrina brought to the entire Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama.
First came the hurricane, one of the three strongest ever to make landfall in the United States -- 150-mile-per-hour winds, with gusts measuring more than 180 miles per hour ripping buildings to pieces.
Second, the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half million homes, creating the largest domestic refugee crisis since the Civil War. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water, as debris and sewage coursed through the streets, and whole towns in south-eastern Louisiana ceased to exist.
And third, the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself. Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, implemented an evacuation plan that favored the rich and healthy. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana, dithered in the most important aspect of her job: providing leadership in a time of fear and confusion. Michael C. Brown, the FEMA director, seemed more concerned with his sartorial splendor than the specter of death and horror that was taking New Orleans into its grip.
In The Great Deluge, bestselling author Douglas Brinkley, a New Orleans resident and professor of history at Tulane University, rips the story of Katrina apart and relates what the Category 3 hurricane was like from every point of view. The book finds the true heroes -- such as Coast Guard officer Jimmy Duckworth and hurricane jock Tony Zumbado.
Throughout the book, Brinkley lets the Katrina survivors tell their own stories, masterly allowing them to record the nightmare that was Katrina. The Great Deluge investigates the failure of government at every level and breaks important new stories. Packed with interviews and original research, it traces the character flaws, inexperience, and ulterior motives that allowed the Katrina disaster to devastate the Gulf Coast.
Customer Reviews:
A deeply flawed book.......2007-10-07
The first large recap of the disaster, published six months after the storm by the well known Tulane historian. A deeply flawed book, due to factual errors and the author's blatant political pronouncements. Brinkley's science is wrong, and he misrepresents what happened at locations other than the Superdome and Convention Center, such as Tulane Hospital and the Aquarium of the Americas. Brinkley supported Lt. Governor Landrieu against Mayor Nagin in the New Orleans mayoral race in the spring of 2006, and it colors his writing. Brinkley has nothing good to say about President Bush, FEMA, or Mayor Nagin, yet he paints Governor Blanco (who cooperated with the book) in the most flattering light possible. Worse, he gives the news media a pass over their horrendous coverage.
Still, the book is worth reading (with a huge grain of salt) because of the extensive timeline offered and the stories of the people affected. His recounting of the heroic efforts of the US Coast Guard and the LA Wildlife & Fisheries personnel is worth the price of the book. Read it until a better one comes out.
An Excellent Read and Reminder . . ........2007-10-02
Highly recommended! I don't read many contemporary history/current events books because they are just too depressing (as in yeah, the other side is in charge and screwing everything up - I know that already!), these books are rarely `fair and balanced' these days, and I do read two newspapers and use other sources to keep up to date.
This book definitely meets the fair and balanced standard, and Brinkley has written a fascinating page-turner to boot. Pretty much everybody but the Coast Guard is a target for `biggest idiot in charge', with Mayor Nagin and also the NOPD taking perhaps the biggest hits (although Bush, Chertoff, Brown and Blanco all take well-deserved broadsides too - oh, and the Red Cross too). NO gets most of the coverage because of the floods, but Miss. and Alabama get a decent amount of print.
A fascinating read, and a great reminder to those of us who live in disaster-prone areas of what kind of help to expect when the big one hits your area. I have a few things to add to my disaster recovery stash . . .
Great Detailed & Compassionate Book.......2007-09-28
I lived thtough Katrina and this is the first book that has told the story in the most detailed & compassionate way.
A grim picture of America at it's worst.......2007-09-22
Deluge is the real deal. A true and unbiased view of the New Orleans situation. It paints government from local police to FEMA in Washington as vastly incapable of the jobs citizens believe someone will do. Since you need to pass a test to drive a motorcycle or sell insurance, shouldn't there be a test to show ability in serving as mayor, governor, president, or the head of a "relief" agency? If Katrina was the test - they all failed.
Magnus Opus account of Hurricane Katrina.......2007-09-03
This is a well written account of the dwellings in New Orleans, Hurricane's and with a few tragic personal stories before during and after the accounts of Hurricane Katrina. The author is a native of O'rleans as you will read about Tragic loss and heroism in the State of Louisiana and Miss.
Did you know that the Mayor of New Orleans was an actor? Did you know that he was holed up in the 27th floor of the Hyatt Regency before the storm while he didn't issue a "MADADORY evacuation" until 18 hours before the storm hit because he needed to consult his attorneys in fear of being sued by the restaurant and bar industry?
Did you also know that New Orleans had, when Mayor Nagin took over,a crime rate over 10 times the national average coming in at 2nd in the Nation. The poor people in the state were simply brushed under the rug and an embarrasment to this flashy Mayor.
Once you finish The Great Deluge, you will come away with an awesome understanding of not only a facsinating account of what happened before and after Hurricane Katrina but an in-depth and detailed account of how the city of New Orleans was/is run and the Leaders (crooks) who run it.
You will feel alot smarter than that you did before reading it. Buy the Hardcover...worth every penny
Book Description
This spellbinding narrative, focusing on the extraordinary human drama that unfolded as an unlikely alignment of meteorological conditions conspired to bring a deadly tropical cyclone to the Northeast in the summer of 1938, summons back the most ferocious storm ever to hit the East Coast. It was a natural disaster so intense that it indelibly marked not only the lives of families across seven states but also the land itself, requiring the entire coastline map of New England to be redrawn.
Customer Reviews:
Great book/ Great service.......2007-08-24
The order arrived one day ahead of schedule in good shape and has been a joy to read.
Enlightning.......2007-05-12
I WAS BORN IN THE YEAR 1938 IN RHODE ISLAND AND HAVE HEARD SO MANY STORIES ABOUT THIS HURRICANE. WHEN I READ AN EXCERPT FROM THIS BOOK, I KNEW I HAD TO READ IT. DETAILS OF PEOPLE AND PLACES PUTS YOU RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE STORM AND IT'S DESTRUCTION. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WITH AN INTEREST IN WEATHER,FAMILY DYNAMICS,HISTORICALLY CORRECT READING. I HAVE RECOMMENED THIS BOOK TO MANY OF MY FRIENDS AND HAVE SINCED PURCHASED COPIES AS GIFTS.
not as good as isaac's storm.......2007-01-26
This book is a good read for the stories of the survivors of the 1938 hurricane. As Marjorie Stoneman Douglas wrote in her book on hurricanes, "there is only one story, that of the survivor." This book collects those tales and weaves them into narrative of the day the storm hit.
Scotti follows the same format use by Erik Larson in Isaac's Storm. This format intersperses survivors' tales-- they're going on in their everyday lives, unaware of the great storm about to hit-- with explanations of the science of the hurricanes, with a description of some of the theory and the development of that theory. I found that Larson's grasp and explanation of the science of hurricanes was better; his bibliogrpahy reveals a more thorough exploration of the meteorology. Scotti seemed to play a little fast and loose with the science.
Still, for a good tale of disaster and survival her narrative is competent. It succeeds as dramatic memorial to the local way of life and the people who died or worse, saw their children die. Ms scotti obviously has a deep attachment to the area and its people. The book could also be useful as a cautionary tale to those living in the northeast who think hurricanes are a Florida phenomenon; but Scotti perhaps does these same residents a disservice by not pointing out that although the 1938 storm was unusual in its forward speed and intensity, a hurricane striking that far north is not freakish and is indeed, in 2007 (or even 2003), well overdue.
This is a decent book, but I would recommend Isaac's Storm as being better.
Fantastic read.......2007-01-16
As a life-long resident of New England and more recently of Westerly, RI, I was fascinated by the story of this hurricane. I applaud Ms. Scotti's writing and her ability to pull you into the stories of this great storm and rivet you to your seat. I found this to be a very fast read just because of the fluidity and tempo of her writing and the fascinating details.
Read and enjoy and marvel at the wonder that is Mother Nature.
A Truly Wonderful Historical Narrative .......2007-01-12
When you think of hurricanes you tend to think of the Caribbean or the Coastal South, not New England but in 1938 a killer hurricane of massive proportions hit an unprepared New England and changed both the geography and people of that region forever. The first question that comes to mind of course concerns what a hurricane was doing that far north in the first place. New England is certainly not immune from storms but most hurricanes strike the South, swerve back out to sea or weaken greatly before they get that far north. This one not only made it to New England but it retained its power and probably slammed parts of the coast with 200 mph winds. Without answering this question the author certainly could not tell this story in a credible way so this is one of the first things that she sets out to do and she does it very well indeed. Not only does she explain the several weather oddities that had to come together for this disaster to happen, she does so in a manner that anyone who has even the most passing acquaintance with weather terminology can understand. She also handles the story of how the weather bureau lost the storm and therefore provided no warnings to the people who were about to face the full fury of nature with a deftness that allows the reader to understand what happened and why.
Once the reader is sufficiently girded with the basic knowledge needed to grasp the situation at hand the author proceeds to weave in the story of the people who were in the great storm's crosshairs. She does this in such a masterful way that if you weren't aware that you were reading history you would be convinced that you were in the midst of a great novel. As the storm approaches we meet family after family who are just going about their daily routine with no knowledge of what's to come. We meet young sweethearts walking on the beach and families having little parties for their children. We meet the rich and famous residents of the area and recent immigrants who can't even speak English. These people have little in common except for being in close geographic proximity to one another but they are all about to have much in common for Mother Nature is no respecter of wealth or power and has no pity on the poor.
Once the storm hits Scotti paints a brilliant picture of the disaster in progress. Her words are so beautifully descriptive that the reader will almost be able to hear the wind and feel the surging sea. The eyewitness accounts that she relies on describe in vivid detail the destruction of buildings and the struggles of those caught in the storm's fury. Best of all, she conveys the emotion of the moment as she describes tragedy after tragedy and conveys a feeling for the victims that historical writers seldom achieve. Through Scotti's words the reader will almost be moved to tears as a father watches helplessly as his children are swept away and will also feel the fear that gripped those who were just holding on for dear life.
As is always the case, this storm passes but with its passing it leaves in its wake a scene of destruction and death seldom seen in America. Again Scotti rises to the challenge of describing the aftermath of the storm, both in the short term and in the long term and she explains how many of those long-term effects are still being felt today. Unfortunately, many New Englanders have forgotten about this storm even though its effects have probably touched their lives. Maybe this book, this excellent book, will remind the people of Coastal New England of just what can happen when all of the pieces of the weather puzzle fall snugly into place.
Book Description
Hurricane Katrina shredded one of the great cities of the South, and as levees failed and the federal relief effort proved lethally incompetent, a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe. As an editor of New Orleans’ daily newspaper, the Pulitzer Prize—winning Times-Picayune, Jed Horne has had a front-row seat to the unfolding drama of the city’s collapse into chaos and its continuing struggle to survive.
As the Big One bore down, New Orleanians rich and poor, black and white, lurched from giddy revelry to mandatory evacuation. The thousands who couldn’t or wouldn’t leave initially congratulated themselves on once again riding out the storm. But then the unimaginable happened: Within a day 80 percent of the city was under water. The rising tides chased horrified men and women into snake-filled attics and onto the roofs of their houses. Heroes in swamp boats and helicopters braved wind and storm surge to bring survivors to dry ground. Mansions and shacks alike were swept away, and then a tidal wave of lawlessness inundated the Big Easy. Screams and gunshots echoed through the blacked-out Superdome. Police threw away their badges and joined in the looting. Corpses drifted in the streets for days, and buildings marinated for weeks in a witches’ brew of toxic chemicals that, when the floodwaters finally were pumped out, had turned vast reaches of the city into a ghost town.
Horne takes readers into the private worlds and inner thoughts of storm victims from all walks of life to weave a tapestry as intricate and vivid as the city itself. Politicians, thieves, nurses, urban visionaries, grieving mothers, entrepreneurs with an eye for quick profit at public expense–all of these lives collide in a chronicle that is harrowing, angry, and often slyly ironic.
Even before stranded survivors had been plucked from their roofs, government officials embarked on a vicious blame game that further snarled the relief operation and bedeviled scientists striving to understand the massive levee failures and build New Orleans a foolproof flood defense. As Horne makes clear, this shameless politicization set the tone for the ongoing reconstruction effort, which has been haunted by racial and class tensions from the start.
Katrina was a catastrophe deeply rooted in the politics and culture of the city that care forgot and of a nation that forgot to care. In Breach of Faith, Jed Horne has created a spellbinding epic of one of the worst disasters of our time.
Customer Reviews:
book- never received.......2007-10-01
I have still yet to receive the book I ordered. The shipper e-mailed me he had the wrong address??? How is that possible? Now he has correct address and claims he shipped it. I still do not have it. I will not be purchasing from Amazon again.
Clearer Perspective on a True Life Experience.......2007-09-24
This is an excellent account of the author's take on this nation's worst catastrophe which my state continues to try and rebuild from to date. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book...your perspective is right on the mark and the lives you detail are remarkable to say the least.
As someone who lost their home during Katrina here in Baton Rouge, but not her two children, two dogs, mother, or her own life, we give thanks daily to God first, and then our many family members, friends, and the generosity of complete strangers for their love, assistance, and kindness in our time of greatest sorrow. We have garnered the strength to go forward even stronger and more blessed than before, and we pray for all the thousands still struggling to rebuild their lives.
Thank you for insight that will bring so much to others when they read your book.
Clarity at a Cost.......2007-09-12
As a displaced resident of lower Plaquemines Parish and a guardsman mobilized for aid, I have seen and heard a lot about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. This book was great to finally put to rest so many rumors (some of which I believed two years later) and bring light to facts that were buried under sensationalism. The only problem I had with this book is that it jumps around too much. However, with the wealth of information and the thousands of people involved the author did an outstanding job tying as much as he could together, but there were just some frayed ends.
Inside View.......2007-08-12
I can't add much to the editorial review that appears on the product page, except to say that in many ways I'm glad that Horne used the balance of head and gut that he did in recounting the damage and aftermath of Katrina. The stories of the survivors are so gripping--sewage, snakes, stinging mosquitos, searing heat while waiting to be rescued followed by squalid conditions at the various collection sites--the Superdome, the Convention Center and a variety of road overpasses--then the gruesome cleanup stories (the exploding hamburger story is guaranteed to make anyone's stomach flip). Had the accounts been any more personal, I couldn't have finished the book. But this is coming from someone who experienced the storm just 75 miles up the road in Baton Rouge, where the story was already personal enough. Our suffering was very limited--some hours without electricity; days without cable TV; working around and with the thousands of evacuees, but we know how profoundly the storm and flood have affected Louisiana in general and the New Orleans metro area in particular.
I salute the doughty Picayune for publishing throughout and Horne for publishing such a thorough account just a year after the disaster. I also thank Horne for presenting a more comprehensive picture of Louisiana Governor Blanco's actions during and after the storm. The reputation of this dedicated and experienced public servant took a heavy hit from the storm, enough so to discourage her from running for a second term. Horne reveals that in the context of the event and the politics surrounding Washington's response, Blanco probably did about as well as anyone could, and better than many other political figures managing the response to the storm.
Horne also adds some structure to the story of the chaotic "planning process" (or lack thereof) that's taken place in New Orleans since the storm. This process goes on to this day as people and businesses make decisions about whether or not to return.
As fellow Louisianans, we do our best to support the recovery of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina and the resultant flooding. Horne has helped us in that effort with his thorough and thoughtful account of the tragic events.
Quality journalistic effort.......2007-06-17
This book is a very good read. It tells the story of Katrina from many different perspectives and the author seems to present each view fairly. I live in Baton Rouge, and I have friends who lived in New Orleans and have left the city since. I feel the book is an accurate portryal of Katrina and how it affected the great city of New Orleans.
Book Description
Katrina, the worst urban disaster in American history, did not end when the hurricane's eye passed New Orleans on September 29, 2005. In 192 pages packed with images of destruction and revival, Katrina: The Ruin and Recovery of New Orleans hints at the scope of the devastation and at the resilience of a city that has resolved to survive it.The book details how Katrina was much more than wind and flooding lives were torn apart as surely as houses and landscapes. Nor can it rightly be called a natural disaster. Engineering failures underlay the levee breaches and politics clouded and confounded the relief and recovery efforts. At every turn, the saga of a city's ordeal invited spectacular photography, provided here as the visual record of Katrina and her aftermath.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-08-26
We were recently in New Orleans to help in the restoration of the area. During our "free" time we frequented a wonderful bookstore in the city. The owner of the store highly recommended this book. She said it was the most comprehensive of all the books written on Katrina. We thoroughly agree!
Masterpiece of Photojournalism.......2007-06-08
While many want to forget Katrina and its devastation, the nation should remember her in true factual details. This book is by far the most comprehensive and balanced presentation of the physics, geography, topography, socioeconomics, and psychology of the tragedy. I was most impressed with the graphics and photos documenting the timing and effects of the levee failures.
great time document.......2007-05-26
This is the most excellent book about Katrina and New Orleans,picture-wise and text-wise. No better way to do it
Katrina: The Ruin and Recovery of New Orleans.......2007-03-10
This a great look into what happened before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Awesome photos!
Gross omissions.......2007-03-01
In their zeal to flay the federal government's response to Katrina, the authors and editors of this book omit any mention of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy response to Katrina. NOT ONE MENTION. NOT ONE PHOTO. Over 30,000 people assisted, but because these were federal agencies, not a word. A generation from now, young people will look at this book and think there was no response except local, and that's WRONG. Great photos, but lousy journalism.
Product Description
From back cover
"This book is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Coleman. He was a retired londshoreman, a storyteller, and a guy who liked to spend time with family and freinds. A New Oreanian. He was 80 years old when he died in his attic at 2214 St. Roch Avenue, in the 8th Ward, on or about Aug. 29, 2005. He had a can of juice and a bedspread at his side when the waters rose. There were more than a thousand like him."
Customer Reviews:
A must read.......2007-10-07
Quite simply the best book about the aftermath of Katrina. Rose is a feature writer for the Times-Picayune, and this book is a reprint of the columns he wrote between August 30, 2005, and January, 2006. A must read.
as close as it gets to being there.......2007-09-19
I am a native New Orleanian. Although I evacuated for the storm, I endured all of the ongoing tortures of its aftermath. Chris Rose did an unbelievably wonderful job in this book, conveying the desperate insanity we all seem to have experienced. The two things this book does not convey (and believe me, be very, very glad of this) are the heat and the smells. The heat was constantly, unbearably oppressive. Even after Labor Day, when we usually get some small relief from the skyrocketing humidity, the weather remained like an enormous hot wet blanket weighing one constantly down. The odors best remain undescribed. THANK YOU, Chris Rose.
Therapy in disguise..........2007-03-04
I was in New Orleans through the storm. Tuesday morning, we waded through contaminated water to evacuate for what we thought would be 1 or 2 days, tops - just like every other storm. However, the government forced us into exile for 5 weeks, not being able to check on our homes, not knowing the conditions we would return to. For over a month we were completely dependent on the kindness of strangers in another state.
While Chris Rose is a transplant, and not a native, we think we'll keep him. He cleverly brings to us the anger, the frustration, the sadness, and the joy that existed in our city after "the big one." You will cry at the loss of life and property. You will laugh at the quirky characters wandering the city. You will remember the survival skills you employed to get what you needed to make it through a day in October. You will hate those who said we abandoned our beloved pets. And, you will be grateful for the kindness of strangers. Strangers who sheltered, clothed, and fed you and told you that you were safe and would be okay.
Anyone with a connection to New Orleans will love this book. I made a point of giving Christmas gifts last year that benefitted Katrina charities, so this book was given to friends in other parts of the country, including some exiles. Some did not want to read the book, thinking it would be too upsetting. But, after they read it they thanked me.
As an unfortunate postscript, "the cat lady" that we all grew to love in this book recently passed away. She was mugged in a store parking lot, pushed to the ground, and suffered a broken hip. She died after complications from the surgery. R.I.P. Cat Lady.
Best Book Ever.......2007-02-24
I am a New Orleans resident, and this is one of my favorite books. It really captures the feelings of all of us living here. Our pride, our loss and our lives. Thank you Chris Rose.
One Dead in Attic.......2007-02-21
This book is a collection of articles the author, a columnist for the New Orleans Times Picayune, the city's leading newspaper, wrote for his paper describing his personal experiences during and after hurricane Katrina. The first chapter/article is a stunning emotional description of the author's experiences during and immdiately after the storm, but he gradually looses his emotional grip on the reader as the chapters became repetitions of the personal story of a well-to-do, well educated professional whose house and contents suffered no damage, who apparently had no friends who suffered serious losses, and whose personal angst springs from the destruction of the city he loves and the dislocation of personal friendships. This is admitedly reason to grieve, but the book would have benefited greatly from some discussion of the author's situation compared to that of the 80% of New Orleans' residents whose homes, possessions, and often family members, were lost. The book's title is virtually the only reference to those where were found dead in attics where they had gone to escape rising water and who drowned there unable to cut a hole to escape to the roof.
Book Description
The ultimate inside story: how bureaucracy, politics, and a disregard of science combined to cripple—perhaps forever—a great American city
As deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, Ivor van Heerden had for years been warning state and local officials about New Orleans's vulnerability to flooding. But like Cassandra's, his predictions were ignored—until Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. Suddenly, van Heerden found himself at the center of a media maelstrom. Stepping forward to challenge the official version of events, he revealed the truth about the city's shoddy levee construction.
Now, in The Storm, van Heerden shares up-to-the-minute reporting from his investigations and connects the dots among the Army Corps of Engineers, the bureaucrats, the politicians, and the chain of events—both natural and human—that culminated in catastrophe. An epic of cutting- edge science and systemic bureaucratic failure, The Storm is the first book from a major player in the Katrina disaster and a riveting narrative that brings expertise, passion, and a human viewpoint to America's greatest natural disaster.
Customer Reviews:
The Storm.......2007-05-14
Good description of what happened during Katrina and the causes of it. However, it is a first person narrative with a bit of self-congratulation embedded throughout (which is kind of annoying).
Read This, and worry about your town..........2007-01-09
I am a New Orleanian. I was there, I know the details, and I know this writer has a lot to teach about disasters and personal responsibility to the community. He's a good guy who a lot of politicians tried to gag.
The book does a lot of CYA- people who knew what they were doing during Katrina have taken a lot of bludgeoning from fools. Mostly fools in politics and the Corps of Engineers- who caused the whole damn New Orleans disaster through sheer idiocy.
Rad this book and weep, for us, for yourselves. Where ever you live, there's the same incompetance waiting to fail you.
Worth The Time.......2006-11-15
Let me first start by explaining that Ivor Van Heerden is my step father, and Mike Bryan is my good friend. During the months in which this book was written, my family was not only dealing with the aftermath of Katrina, but the effects of someone with such huge ideas and opinions trying to fit them into a few hundred pages. The amount of time and dedication that went into this book alone was enough to encourage me to read it, but once i did i realized that it's positively genius. The detailes he goes into just to make sure the readers can understand what he is about to discuss definitly sets him apart from other katrina authors. And Mike Bryan's years of writing experience really bring eveything together in this book. All in all I have to say that this book is definitly worth your time, if you want to understand the big picture behind katrina, as well as the things not many people knew at the time.
Eye-Opening .......2006-08-04
Get your dictionary out for acronyms... very confusing at times. Great storytelling in the first half of the book, but much finger pointing at the end. Van Heerden is very passionate about his work and point of view. Story matches reality I guess in relation to this catastrophic, horrible event. Very eye-opening, as our government continues down the same road, levee's ...FEMA... wars..... cover-up after cover-up.... Etc...
The Sad Truth.......2006-07-14
As a former emergency management planner, I found this book to be an excellent analysis of what really went wrong in New Orleans. It is a treatise for government officials to learn what not to do and an outline of what we as citizens should demand from our government leaders. It presents very technical information and scientific analysis in a manner that even an elected official can understand. But, beyond presenting the scientific basis of why New Orleans flooded, it presents an outline of solutions that should and must be considered. It is an great testament to the fact that some issues should be above everyday politics and that some important decisions that a government may be asked to make should be based upon science and not political considerations. This is a must read for every citizen and should be a mandatory read for every elected official.
Dr. Barksdale
Books:
- Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World
- John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Later Novels 1947-1962: The Wayward Bus / Burning Bright / Sweet Thursday / The Winter of Our Discontent (Library of America)
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull
- Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum Novels)
- Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning (American Association for State and Local History Book Series)
- Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images (Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights & Liabilities of)
- Looking At Los Angeles
- Manchild in the Promised Land
- Melody in Songwriting: Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs (Berklee Guide)
- Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Love's Children
- Across the Great Divide: The Band and America
- The Hellion Bride
- The Man Who Fell to Earth
- The Night Gardener
- Class 3.1 Hydrolases IV
- Washington's Crossing
- Staffordshire Figures: History in Earthenware, 1740-1900
- Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century
- How to Have ""Unexpected"" Income!
Thunderstruck
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun
The Johnstown Flood
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
