Isaac's Storm

4 Pages 978 Words

Some people are just gifted. While researching data on a turn-of-the-century murder, author Erik Larson stumbles upon newspaper accounts of the most lethal natural disaster in American history (Random House, 1999). The discovery leads to his writing of Isaac’s Storm, a national bestseller. The book describes in great detail how a hurricane destroyed the town of Galveston, Texas in 1900. Larson’s interest in history and foul weather phenomenon combined with the intriguing photographic devastation was factors that led to his writing. He was amazed that few people knew of a documented catastrophe with a death toll greater than the combined toll of the Johnstown Flood and San Francisco Earthquake. Although he has no formal weather training his research and self-proclaimed “forensic investigation” techniques (University of Oregon, 1999) produced an excellent read. From Larson’s childhood background in Freeport, Long Island during the hurricane years of the 1950’s and 1960’s through his major in history at the University of Pennsylvania he seemed to prepare himself for just such a work. His resume also includes graduation from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, teaching nonfiction writing at San Francisco State University, and stints with major papers and periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal, Harpers and Atlantic Monthly.
From the opening chapter “ The Beach”, Larson provides enough documentary that you find the book hard to put down. He lays out families, events, days and people in detail that you can follow throughout the book; in some cases you can imagine yourself actually there. The next chapter traces the origin of the hurricane in the next chapter followed by a description of Isaac Cline’s upbringing and weather forecasting background, providing a strong basis for tracking the storm and understanding Cline’s mindset. While important to document the National Weather Service’s mode of operation it...