Book Review

Larson, Erik. Isaac’s Storm. (New York: Vintage Books, 2000): 323.

            Erik Larson’s book Isaac’s Storm tells the story the story of the deadliest environmental hazard in the history of the United States of America when a hurricane obliterated Galveston, Texas on September 9^th, 1900. The story is mainly told through the personal accounts of those living in Galveston and other members of the United States Weather Bureau before, during, and after the storm made landfall. Specifically, the story is told through the written accounts of the Isaac Monroe Cline, a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau assigned to Galveston, as he failed to comprehend the warning signs of a major storm as it was happening for days in front of him. The result would be the complete leveling of the city of Galveston and thousands of men, women, and children left dead (different estimates range from more than 4,000 confirmed death to possibly as many as 10,000 counting the inland population that was impacted by the storm) because of unsatisfactory hurricane detection and protection.

            In order to fully understand the effects that a hazard inflicts on a region or community, the population of the area needs to be evaluated. The government measures of protection and prevention need to be addressed. The public’s knowledge of hazards and their frequency and vulnerability need to be analyzed. The actual details of what happened before, during, and after the event need to be known by those reviewing the storm in order to better prepare themselves for future storms. The people occupying the area hit by a hurricane, above all else, usually are the most important factors in determining whether or not the storm causes minor damage or widespread destruction. That is the reason I chose this book.

            Larson uses many primary sources in his book to tell the story of those affected by the storm. Diaries, letters, journals, newspapers, telegraphs, and government documents are used throughout the book to show the author’s credibility and make Isaac’s Storm a truly original piece that should be a valuable addition to the historiography of event. Also, other secondary sources were used well in many of the small chapters in the book. Specifically, Larson credits the Hurricane Research Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Virginia Key, Florida as a primary contributor and fact-checker of the meteorological content of the book. This information was especially useful throughout the book. The genetic make-up of hurricanes and the science behind their movements, history, and devastation they can inflict was discussed by what we know currently and was compared to the information that was available in 1900 in Galveston. This information was highly scientific but was presented in a way that was easy for the reader to understand and valuable to the plot of the story.

            The book begins with a description of Isaac Cline as an educated and well respected man living in Galveston. He observed strange behavior from the weather and the sea in the days leading up to the storm but maintained that nothing was wrong. The temperatures in Galveston broke 90 degrees for a few days in a row. The city, and the entire country for that matter, was experiencing abnormal hot and humid temperatures that summer and it was continuing into September. These hot temperatures “warmed the waters of the Gulf to the temperature of a bath” (Larson, 6). The sudden drop in temperature and the crashing of waves at a slow pace were indicators that Cline failed to read correctly and act accordingly. Larson foreshadows the storm nicely in the opening of the book.

            The book then discusses the scientific make-up of hurricanes such as the one that would hit Galveston which is a major strength of the book. The build-up of heat and moisture over the Sahara Desert in Africa takes place and winds collide to produce a zone of instability which is then blown east to the Atlantic. The book does a tremendous job of describing how most storms act and the differences that historians and meteorologists know about this particular storm. Most tropical storms lose energy and dissipate over the ocean. They can collide with strong winds that act against them, they can travel over cooler water, or they come into contact with extremely dry air. All of these things prevent major storms from crossing the Atlantic, but not this particular storm. As the storm travelled for days across the water and eventually moved into the Caribbean Sea, the satellites that were in their first stages of use to help predict major storms were often inaccurate due to delays in receiving the information.

            In fact, the U.S. did not have most advanced equipment and forecasters when it came to predicting hurricanes. Larson explains that meteorologists in Cuba were much better than the U.S. Weather Bureau at this time. The Cubans experienced extended periods of heavy rain as the strong storm moved over the country until it headed northwest again into open water. Cuban meteorologists then predicted that the storm would gain considerable strength due to the warm, open water it was traveling into. They warned the bureau about a potential hurricane headed toward the Gulf coast but U.S. meteorologists dismissed their claims and did not issue any warnings. Larson believes that this could have been due to some of the Americans in the bureau being overtly racist or that they resented the Cubans for the competition to them. The result was that the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. did not offer any indication to local meteorologists like Cline.

            The book then goes through many different people’s accounts of the days leading up to the storm and how life continued on normally until the day the storm hit. The city of Galveston occupied a long island that formed just off the southern coast of Texas. The highest point of the city was only 8.7 feet above sea level and its average altitude was half of that (Larson, 12). Huge waves began to reach the beach and the water level was rising. Larson gives personal accounts of many people who traveled out to the beach to enjoy the spectacle. They were not nervous and why would they be? They simply had to refer back to an article published in the Galveston News on July 15, 1891 where Isaac Cline was quoted as saying, “It would be impossible for any cyclone to create a storm wave which would materially injure the city” (Larson, 84). Years ago the city voted to build a 10 foot seawall around the island to prevent against a major storm but Cline did not think it was necessary. The book then goes into the grim details of the devastation that would soon befall the people of Galveston. Cline was wrong. The storm left thousands dead in Galveston alone and it was powerful enough to cause damage in the Midwest and Northeast United States over the coming days. Larson’s portrayal of the storm’s furry leaves the reader fully engaged. The island was completely underwater in a short period of time and the once thriving city was reduced to rubble.

            Larson provides an enthralling description of the true story of the 1900 hurricane unlike it was ever told before. The amount of source material and evidence referenced in his book gives credibility to the original research done that was completed. The book is not only an excellent story. It is a valuable source for learning about hurricanes and the way that coastal populations can learn and adapt from the mistakes made by Isaac Cline, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and the people of Galveston. Readers can see how new advances in weather and hazard research have resulted because of this and how steps can be taken to effectively prepare communities for hurricanes protection. These reasons, and many more, prove that Isaac’s Storm is a wonderful source of American history and an excellent case study of an environmental hazard that everyone should read.

-Adam Wimberly