The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900

by Al Roker

Overview

In this gripping narrative history, Al Roker from NBC's Today and the Weather Channel vividly examines the deadliest natural disaster in American history—a haunting and inspiring tale of tragedy, heroism, and resilience that is full of lessons for today's new age of extreme weather.

On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, two-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and fifteen-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the booming port city on Texas's Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, the city that hours earlier had stood as a symbol of America's growth and expansion, was gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen. Rushing water from the storm, which caused 8,000 deaths, had lifted buildings from their foundations, smashing them into pieces, while wind gusts had upended steel girders and trestles, driving them through house walls and into sidewalks. No race or class was spared its wrath. In less than twenty-four hours, a single storm had destroyed a major American metropolis—and awakened a nation to the terrifying power of nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062393029
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/11/2015
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	644,906
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Al Roker is cohost of NBC’s Today. He has received thirteen Emmy Awards, ten for his work on Today. He is the author of The Storm of the Century, an acclaimed history of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News and 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts, and has two daughters and a son.

Table of Contents

Underwater 1

Part I They All Had Plans

1 Looking Forward 7

2 The Storm: Africa 22

3 A Reasonable Argument 30

4 Storm Watcher 54

5 The Storm: From Cuba to Texas 82

Part II Maelstrom

6 Galveston: Thursday, September 6 111

7 Friday: The Waves 120

8 Saturday Morning: Storm Tide 132

9 Saturday Afternoon: "Half the City Underwater" 147

10 The Night of Horrors 163

Part III We White City on the Beach

11 Telegraph Silence 197

12 The Pile 211

13 "I Can Begin Life Again, as I Entered It" 235

14 "In Pity's Name, in America's Name" 250

15 No Tongue Can Tell 273

Acknowledgments 299

A Note on Further Reading 300

Bibliography 302

Index 305

Editorial Reviews

Vivid details abound in Roker’s telling of the hurricane and its aftermath... [which] reads like a novel. ... Engrossing.

Chicago Tribune

[A] vivid and absorbing account of the infamous Great Galveston Hurricane. ... Spellbinding and informative.

Booklist

Vivid details abound in Roker’s telling of the hurricane and its aftermath... [which] reads like a novel. ... Engrossing.

Chicago Tribune

A fascinating, multifaceted story.

USA Today

06/15/2015
In this chronological account, TV meteorologist Roker revisits the “worst natural disaster of any kind, ever to hit the United States”: the category-four hurricane that pounded Galveston, Tex., on Sept. 8, 1900. The storm killed more than 10,000 people, caused nearly $20 million in damages ($700 million in 2015 dollars), and left “a great city reduced overnight to miles of rubble.” Roker introduces readers to such local figures as Galveston’s chief meteorologist, Isaac Cline, “a nationally recognized weather expert” who nevertheless failed to prepare the city for disaster; Annie and Ed McCullough, newlyweds whose home “lay two short blocks from the gulf beach”; and police chief Edwin N. Ketchum, a “proud Yankee veteran” who hosted popular annual picnics. He sets the stage for the drama with a comprehensive, but accessible history of Galveston, at the time “Texas’s greatest metropolis” and “one of the world’s greatest ports.” However, readers are left in the dark as to why Roker decided to retell this story now, and whatever resonances may exist with more recent events are left implied, rather than explored explicitly. Without more context or connection, readers will be left wondering what Roker’s goal might be. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A fascinating, multifaceted story.” — USA Today

“Compelling. ... Uplifting.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Vivid details abound in Roker’s telling of the hurricane and its aftermath... [which] reads like a novel. ... Engrossing.” — Chicago Tribune

“Gripping reading and a well-crafted cautionary tale. ... [Roker] brings important new energy, details and meteorological insights to this retelling.” — Dallas Morning News

“[A] vivid and absorbing account of the infamous Great Galveston Hurricane. ... Spellbinding and informative.” — Booklist

“[A] compelling work. ... Focusing on the human experience of the storm, Roker follows survivors before, during, and after the hurricane in order to elucidate what people on Galveston Island encountered as the storm raged through the city.” — Library Journal

“Reads like a blockbuster movie script.” — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“Roker revisits the ‘worst natural diaster of any kind, ever to hit the United States.’ ... He sets the stage for the drama with a comprehensive, but accessible history of Galveston at the time.” — Publishers Weekly

ONE OF USA TODAY’S “25 HOT BOOKS FOR SUMMER” — USA Today

“Personalize[s] the event. ... Roker’s best research uncovers more of the rescue and recovery effort. ... Roker’s new book is a fine effort.” — San Antonio Express-News

“This book, skillfully crafted by Al Roker, is a must read! It has changed my thoughts about weather predictions forever.” — Craig Daily Press (CO)

From the Publisher

[A] vivid and absorbing account of the infamous Great Galveston Hurricane. ... Spellbinding and informative.

Booklist

A fascinating, multifaceted story.

USA Today

Gripping reading and a well-crafted cautionary tale. ... [Roker] brings important new energy, details and meteorological insights to this retelling.

Dallas Morning News

Reads like a blockbuster movie script.

Lisa Ko

Personalize[s] the event. ... Roker’s best research uncovers more of the rescue and recovery effort. ... Roker’s new book is a fine effort.

San Antonio Express-News

This book, skillfully crafted by Al Roker, is a must read! It has changed my thoughts about weather predictions forever.

Craig Daily Press (CO)

Reads like a blockbuster movie script.

Associated Press Staff

Compelling. ... Uplifting.

Stephanie Garber

06/01/2015
This is the story of the Galveston, TX, hurricane of 1900, considered to be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Focusing on the human experience of the storm, weather forecaster and author Roker (Don't Make Me Stop This Car) follows survivors before, during, and after the hurricane in order to elucidate what people on Galveston Island encountered as the storm raged through the city. Unlike other books devoted to the subject, such as Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm, Roker's account investigates the race relations of the time and the impacts of minorities living in Galveston both during the city's rise and in the aftermath of the disaster. While discussions of meteorology (and meteorological history) are broached, they are not the primary focus. Rather, Roker succeeds in presenting a broad overview of the event, emphasizing the individual experiences of residents. VERDICT Readers who are new to the subject would be well served in choosing this compelling work. However, those who are familiar with the event or who are looking for a more scholarly treatment should consider Larson's Isaac's Storm. [See Prepub Alert, 2/23/15.]—Laura Hiatt-Smith, Conifer, CO

Library Journal

Narrator Byron Wagner's unrelenting tone is unnerving as he opens Al Roker's account of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Immediately, listeners find themselves in the mind of a man who's struggling not to drown. As it turns out, he's a weatherman who failed to predict the catastrophic event that may kill him. Wagner's voice relaxes as Roker then goes back to the days leading up to the hurricane, capturing the everyday rhythms of Galveston life, even as he introduces ominous signs. When the storm hits, Wagner gut-wrenchingly describes the experiences of being in a house that is collapsing and not knowing whether loved ones are still alive. Listeners will be fascinated, even as they shudder at the grim reality of a death toll that topped 10,000. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile

2015-04-28
Today weather anchor Roker (Never Goin' Back: Winning the Weight Loss Battle for Good, 2012, etc.) recounts the hurricane that leveled Galveston, Texas, during September 1900, killing an estimated 10,000 people. The narrative of the storm and its gruesome aftermath moves along briskly, but some readers may wonder why the author decided to devote his celebrity name and his time to an account that has been told better in Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (1999) and John Edward Weems' A Weekend in September (1957). In his "Note on Further Reading," Roker acknowledges those two books as vital sources for his version of the historical record. He also states that his book is the first to use the oral histories collected in Izola Collins' Island of Color (2004), "which preserves the history of Galveston's African American community from Juneteenth to the post-segregation era." How the oral histories collected by Collins fit into Roker's narrative, however, is unclear. Roker's accounts of the suffering of hundreds of individuals are, for the most part, compelling. Most are tragic, and some are uplifting. But they drift throughout the book, with little sense to the order in which they appear, disappear temporarily, and then reappear. Roker's weather-forecasting experience serves him well, and the narrative is strongest when he turns from the seemingly random minidramas of individuals to explain the forces of nature at play. The grimmest portion of the book, understandably, deals with how the Galveston residents who survived labored to bury the dead—first in the ocean, which proved difficult to accomplish, and then by cremation via open fires. The stench was pervasive and potentially deadly. Roker's account will interest readers who previously knew nothing about the Galveston hurricane. However, Isaac's Storm is not out of date and deserves its place as the recommended version.

Kirkus Reviews