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Don't think it couldn't happen to you. Skiers, snowboarders, climbers, and anyone else who travels in the mountains should be aware of the awesome destructive power of avalanches and the conditions that cause them. The Handbook is a comprehensive guide to avoiding such a calamity of snow and ice--and how to improve your chances of survival if you're caught in one. With a combination of science and practical advice, the authors explain how avalanches happen, how to test a slope for slide potential, and how to navigate in avalanche-prone areas. This is essential material for winter recreation fans and outdoors enthusiasts. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A thorough introduction to avalanche theory.
For backcountry enthusiasts with a science background, this book provides a thorough introduction to avalanche theory. The book is divided into chapters which build a solid foundation (weather systems, snow structure) through snowpack basics (snow strength and deformation, snowpack structure) and well into more advanced concepts (snowpack analysis, avalanche prediction, search and rescue, and even control with explosives, etc.) It is an excellent, if heavy, read and I found it a valuable resource in the development of an intro avalanche course. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Stereotyping the Feminine
Ms. Kelleher's The Feminization of Famine, is an examination of the representation of the female in famine literatures of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852) and the Bengali Famine (1943-1944).The first threesections of the book deal with the Irish and the fourth section is used asa comparison with the literature inspired by the famine in Bengal (whichalso took place under British Imperial Rule).The book performs well as anintroduction to Irish Famine Literature, exploring short stories, novelsand journals that are contemporary, a generation removed and those producedin the 20th Century.A good part of these works are difficult to obtainand Ms. Kelleher does the reader a service in exposing them.

The worklost some color for this reviewer when she came to Famine, by LiamO'Flaherty.While most of the other works were unfamiliar to me, I had thegood fortune to read Famine just prior to Ms. Kelleher's work.Ms.Kelleher renders a shallow and un-insightful review of what is truly abrilliant work.I found her interpretation of Famine to be shaped by herthesis on the representation of women in famine literature rather than herthesis being shaped by the literature at hand.Characters were representedout of context and Mr. O'Flaherty was credited with an inability to providea coherent political focus because his characters were in disagreement withone another.It seems that Ms. Kelleher cannot distinguish between anauthor and his or her fictional creations.I cannot help but wonder howmisled I might have been in those works with which I was not so familiar.

The book offers some insights and some stereotypical thought on thevictimization of women.The reader might hope for a less subjective anddeceptive analysis than he or she will receive from Ms. Kelleher.Thisreviewer cannot help but be wary of the analysis of those works that werenot in his personal experience given the doubtful representations of thosethat were.Still, the information on the Bengal famine was fascinating toa novice such as myself and the sections on the Irish Famine wereinstructive, too. I only recommend that the reader not blindly accept thesummaries offered by Ms. Kelleher. ... Read more

Book Description

Fire is a fearsome constant in the America West. Everyone who lives in the West confronts fire intimately or frighteningly at some time. As the author David J. Strohmaier notes, "Whether we have tended a campfire along Oregon's Deschutes River in March, engaged the advancing front of a Great Basin wildfire in the torrid heat of August, or watched fire settle into the subdued, smoldering leaf piles of October, all of our lives, to one degree or another, are bracketed by fire." In The Seasons of Fire, Strohmaier effectively blends nature writing, personal essay, and philosophical analysis as he deliberately crosses disciplinary boundaries. He discusses the "moral" dimensions of fire-not only whether fires are good, bad or indifferent phenomena, but also how fire, more generally understood, shapes meaning for human life. The consequences of discussing the moral side of fire speak directly to the contours of the human soul, and to our sense of our place on the land.!Strohmaier, a long-term firefighter himself, includes accurate and sometimes gut-wrenching descriptions of the firefighter's experience, including the philosophical wanderings and the downright boredom that may dominate between direct confrontations with the searing, terrifying flames. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A masterful portrait
Dave Strohmaier masterfully paints us a portrait of wildfire in the West, drawing from a palette of sensitivity to the earth, gritty practical experience, humor, and skilled writing craft. He calls attention to the beauty of many elements of nature we take for granted, its paradoxes, and draws complex associations between these and wildfire. This book is not a primer on how wildfires are fought. It is a loving and thorough philosophical exploration of the meaning of fire, nature, and humanity.

Hot Damn!
Seasons of Fire by David J. Strohmaier is a superbly written, artistic, and thought-provoking novel on humankind's relationship to fire. Like the author, I too have "engaged" the fires of summer,which stirred deep, ontological questions about human evolution's debt to fire. The author expresses such ideas in a free-flowing narrative that bursts with imagery. Deep yet accesible (I will admit to using the dictionary at least once every 50 pages, but I admire an author who can skillfully use words that I should know, but don't).

To ape the vernacular of Hollywood producers, "it's like Edward Abbey meets Garrison Keillor!" David J. Strohmaier provides beatific explorations of philosophical questions with a smooth, down-home panache. I have never had the pleasure of attacking a fire with gunny sacks, but the author makes me wish I had:

"There is pleasure in completing little tasks--sweating your way up a hill to the flank of a fire under the sun and open sky of mid-July, then, in the company of several others, swatting out flames until either you smother all movement, or cool, moist night air tucks the fire in for the evening. This genuine satisfaction does not abdicate you from the responsibility of asking why you are doing what you are doing, and why it is meaningful. And of all the seasons of the year, summer, the summer of fire, is when these questions are cured."

Descriptions of a bygone Halloween when the author dressed as Satan himself, dancing around a fire, made me laugh out loud. A truly provocative and enjoyable book. I look forward to his next work.

The Seasons of Fire : Reflections on Fire in the West
Strohmaier captures the essense of what calls people from all walks of life to a world of flames and wild places.
As a veteran wildland firefighter for over 24 years,
it was a joy to read about the spirit that exist within every wildland firefighter. If you want to understand the
essentials of what motivates wildland firefighters, read this book. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

History at its Best
This is the best book available on the Great Storm of 1900 and its effect on Galveston, Texas. An unbelievable amount of research obviously went into it. Very well written. Highly recommended.

SILENT STORM
I bought this book on the basis of a National Public Radio story which promoted it in an in-depth study of the devestating 1900 hurricane that killed thousands in Galveston, Texas. The radio spot spared no expense with the sound of hurricane force wind surrounding the historic taped voices of survivors describing a night where death pounded on the door. It made a much better radio show than it does a book. The problem is, the eyewitnes accounts are all in cloudy retrospect, some were taped seventy-plus years afterwords and are shaky historic accuracy. The book is a compilation of various communications from victims and survivors; personal letters, weather reports, diary entries, newspaper headlines and the mighty storm soon becomes as redundant as a 'Weather Channel' report. If the authors had found a grocery list of a victim, it would be included. Surely this hurricane which killed over 5000 people in an American coastal community in 1900 was more horrific than the drab, hearsay accounts given here. There is no journalistic quality. Even the photographs show page after page of what appears to be the same pile of wooden rubble.

The Best Book on the the 1900 Storm
This is a must-own book if you're interested in the great storm of 1900 or Galveston history generally.If you're going to buy just one Texas history book this year this is definitely the one to get. Despite the fact that the scholarship and research that went into this book is first rate,it is highly readable and you can almost hear the voices of people who experienced first hand the tragic events of this greatest of American natural disasters.The pictures and maps in this book are also woven together in a marvelous fashion. The Rosenberg Library in Galveston is to be commended for using its collection to put together this extraordinary book, which tells a powerful and moving story.This is history at its best.

Ed Cotham Author of Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston ... Read more

Book Description

In this gripping collection of extraordinary moments from our nation's past, Ace Collins tells the real-life tales of men, women, and children trapped in situations beyond their control.Culled from documents, interviews with key participants, and news stories of the day, Tragedies of American History chronicles the harrowing human drama of individuals facing life at its most extreme.

From the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 to the Coconut Grove Fire of '42, from the Great Nashville Train Wreck of 1918 to 1953's Waco Tornado, here are the famous as well as the forgotten events that illustrate America's strength in the face of overwhelming circumstances. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent reference!Seriously researched!
I found this book to be a forthright and over due documentation of thedevasting fires that swept the great lakes state.I commend the author forher compassionate style in documenting a time in Michigan History thattouched nearly every family in this great lake state. Hard to put down. ... Read more

Book Description

The great hurricane of 1928 claimed 2,500 lives, and the long-forgotten story of the casualties, as told in Black Cloud, continues to stir passion. Among the dead were 700 black Floridians-men, women, and children who were buried in an unmarked West Palm Beach ditch during a racist recovery and rebuilding effort that conscripted the labor of blacks as latter-day slaves. Palm Beach Post reporter Eliot Kleinberg has penned the gripping and tragic tale of 1928's killer hurricane from dozens of interviews with survivors, diary entries, accounts from newspapers, government documents, and reports from the National Weather Service and the Red Cross. Immortalized in Zora Neale Hurston's classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, thousands of poor blacks had nowhere to run when the waters of Lake Okeechobee rose. No one spoke for them, no one stood up for them, and no one could save them. With historical photographs and heroic tales of survival and loss, this book finally gives the dead the dignity they deserve. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Poorly known tragedy...and portent
I agree with other reviewers that spoke highly of this work. This book is deeply moving in its portrayal of how a natural disaster combined with ineffective governmental precautions, human arrogance, and racial inequity to create an unmitigated human tragedy. The portrayal of people from all across the board is unfettered by political correctness as the author explores the range from poor black laborers buried in mass graves to a reactionary black interest group that tried to discredit the Red Cross, one of the few organizations relatively prepared for this emergency.

The events in this book are made all the more tragic when one realizes that humans have learned precious little from this type of disaster. As the earth warms, whether caused by man or not, the probablility of catastrophic hurricanes reaching our coasts may dramatically increase. And yet we build on coastal land until the water has nowhere to go and we remain haughty in the face of natural power. We also ignore human factors seen in the 1928 storm that linger on in Florida.

I highly recommend reading this book within the context of modern times and possiblilities. Or, try immersing yourself (if you can get past the numerous "typos" in the book) in the world of early Florida settlement. Either way, you will embark on a heart-wrenching experience that will long be remembered.

The Definitive Book
(...) Kleinberg has assembled pretty much the definitive history of this hurricane, in a book that is very compellingly readable, meticulously researched and, above all, extraordinarily well-organized. The cliche's that so abounded in "Isaac's Storm," the history of the Galveston hurricane, are here mercifully lacking. This hurricane changed the whole shape and future of South Florida, tested the state's mettle (which was found wanting in many ways) and more or less declared the future of the Everglades ecosystem, in that Lake Okeechobee would never again be allowed to become so unruly and deadly. A vast dike surrounds it today, abhorred by environmentalists, blessed by farmers and developers. The whole problem of water in South Florida, what to do with it, how to manage it, dates from this pivotal point, the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.

Kleinberg has done an excellent job of tracking down sources, both living and speaking, as well as dead and existing only in ink or newsprint. He has put it all together with remarkable clarity and verve. This is a very lively book, breathing with human breath and gasping at the onslaught of almost unearthly winds. It is scrupulously researched and documented chapter and verse. One cannot but be pained to learn that some of the most precious original documents, the original issues of the Palm Beach Post and source material from the Lawrence Will archive in Belle Glade, have been stolen; but Kleinberg has managed to reconstruct their content skilfully.

Today we are almost overwhelmed with escapist disaster books, from Mount Everest to Krakatoa (my favorite, for sheer absurdity, concerns a New England molasses spill; you would think the world were ending!). Here's one that actually speaks, resonates and still has consequences in the present time. The multi-billion-dollar Everglades Restoration Project still has to deal with the consequences of this 1928 hurricane, the dubious gift of having TOO much water, and what to do if you want to farm or build a condominium on land that used to be submerged. It's a fascinating, well-written account, equally at home in a library or on a bedside reading table. Highly recommended. I give it four stars merely to avoid the imputation of sycophancy and escape the charge of counterfeit reviewing with which Amazon has been lately plagued.

Compelling account of devasting 1928 hurricane
Do you ever stop and shake your head at all of the apartment complexes, condominiums, beachfront homes and commercial enterprises that have sprung up all along the coastline? It would seem that many Americans are unaware of or have become indifferent to the danger posed by hurricanes. In "Black Cloud", Eliot Kleinberg describes the horrors of the second deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. An estimated 7000 people were killed in its wake. Kleinberg describes the unique set of circumstances in 1928 Florida that caused the overwhelming majority of the casualties to occur inland near Lake Okeechobee.
The author provides the fascinating history that led to the draining of the Everglades, and the ill-advised construction of a flimsy dike around Lake Okeechobee that contributed in a huge way to the incomprehensible loss of life that occured during this storm. As is true in a great many disasters, what occured here was the unfortunate combination of a great many circumstances. I found the book to be fairly well written and for the most part easy to follow. And as you might expect, race played a major role in how the situation was handled by both public officials and the population at large. If you are a history buff or are fascinated with natural disasters this is certainly a book you should consider. ... Read more

Book Description

Are events that create major casualties or social, economic, psychological disruptions such as ethnic clashes in Bosnia or the AIDS epidemic, the same kind of social crises as those generated by natural and technological happenings such as earthquakes and chemical explosions? In What Is A Disaster? contributors from six disciplines offer their views on what a disaster is. Some contributors argue for a continuation of the traditional approach to disasters, while others contend that behavioral aspects of disasters can only be understood by looking at them subjectively, particularly from the viewpoint of victims. This collection explores the many conceptual differences that exist concerning what a disaster is, and presents important implications for both theory and practice. ... Read more

Book Description

This unique manual shows you how to survive a nuclear nightmare by providing an exhaustive investigation of survival strategies and of the problems that will face those who survive. The author outlines step-by-step procedures for preparing and defending shelters, storing food, treating illnesses and injuries and understanding the psychology of survival. With its dozens of useful charts, lists, drawings and photos, this book also serves as an excellent reference on surviving any major disaster. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A Classic! Still essential reading in the post Cold War era
Bruce Clayton's cold war vintage survival classic, Life After Doomsday, still makes worthwhile reading in the age of terrorist threats, North Korean ballistic missiles, Iranian nukes, and germ warfare. While some of the specific information, such as the location of counterforce targets (US missile and bomber bases)is out-dated, much of the insight remains valid. For the generation born after 1980, the book provides absolutely priceless perspective on the meaning of "The Cold War" and the risks faced by civilian and military alike during that era. The prospect of global nuclear war, a constant in the Reagan years, puts today's small scale terrorist threats into an entirely different perspective.

In fact Clayton remains one of the most concise, intelligent, and useful sources for any individual, family or group contemplating the dangers of contemporary life. It is a shame that Dr. Clayton, to date, has not applied his energy, intellect and unique insight to updating his work with information addressing the changes in the threat/probabilities along with the advances in technology useful in survival situations. It has been almost 25 years, the world has changed dramatically and we have had some new experiences from which to draw lessons. Come on Dr. Clayton, how about it! Until the 2nd edition is published, this is still about the best general source for contemporary survival advice available.

Yeah Right....
"The information in this book is suited for no other disasters than a minimal nuclear accident. The information is old., dated and poor."......As my Dad used to say, "Horse Hockey." This is just another person who has let the government "experts" convince him that since no one can survive a nuclear war, you should not try. The fact is, that many experts believe that surviving is possible. But on the bright side, since so many numbnuts will not even try, there will not be so many people driving slow in the left lane in the future.

Great book for getting ready for the worst senario...
This is THE best book on the subject of Nuclear war and other major disasters I have ever read. Dr. Clayton walks you through everything nuclear, from effects of air bursts, ground bursts, EMP, to every other nuclear topic imaginable. While famous for its nuclear information, this book is writen as a primer to surviving ANY disaster. Our Motto here at Alpha Group is(as you know) "It doesn't matter what causes the situation, you should be prepared to survive it". This book fits perfectly with that philosophy.

I consider this book one of the "MUST HAVE" books in any survival library. Not only does this book contain fantastic and interesting reading, but with its dozens of charts, lists, drawings and photos, this book serves as an excellent reference on surviving ANY major disaster. It is one of the few reference books I keep in my personal bookshelf beside the computer. When I read this book for the first time I was amazed by what I THOUGHT I knew. I was VERY wrong in many of my beliefs. Even the US government used Dr. Clayton's research to revise their policies in some areas.

Chapters covered include:

It's a disaster

Everything you ever wanted to know about nuclear war

To flee or not to flee

Home sweet hole

Nobody makes housecalls anymore

and MANY others that will keep you reading, and more importantly, will keep you alive no matter what the disaster.

Best general purpose book out there
It would be difficult to write a better all purpose survival manual. The author understands that preparing for one emergency somewhat prepares you for them all. He focuses on the practical and doesn't get immersed in the arcana of combat firearms or sidetracked into politics. I'd love to see a revised edition but the principles he outlines will be good forever.

out of date at best
The information in this book is suited for no other disasters than a minimal nuclear accident. The information is old., dated and poor. ... Read more

Book Description

Earthquakes, floods, drought, and other natural hazards cause tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in economic losses each year around the world. Many billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance, emergency loans, and development aid are expended annually. Yet efforts to reduce the risks of natural hazards remain largely uncoordinated across different hazard types and do not necessarily focus on areas at highest risk of disaster.

Natural Disaster Hotspots presents a global view of major natural disaster risk hotspots ¡V areas at relatively high risk of loss from one or more natural hazards. It summarizes the results of an interdisciplinary analysis of the location and characteristics of hotspots for six natural hazards ¡V earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, drought, and cyclones. Data on these hazards are combined with state-of-the-art data on the subnational distribution of population and economic output and past disaster losses to identify areas at relatively high risk from one or more hazards. ... Read more

Book Description

At 4:33 P.M. on March 3, 1966, the skies above Jackson, Mississippi, turned an ominous yellow before going suddenly and violently black. A tornado of the F-5 category -- the most lethal -- struck without warning. It tore roofs off buildings, twisted metal, blew out windows, threw cars into the air, and killed fourteen people -- thirteen of them in a newly built shopping mall, the Candlestick Shopping Center. The fury and destruction ended in seconds, but in those moments the tornado had ripped through the heart of a community, changing lives forever.

In A World Turned Over, Lorian Hemingway returns to the Jackson she knew as a child and tells the story of the Candlestick Tornado, as it came to be known. Vividly re-creating the terrifying day of the tornado, she recounts the miracles and tragedies that also happened that day -- including the story of Donna Durr, who with her baby was lifted in her car seventy-five feet up into the vortex, and of eighteen-year-old Ronny Hannis, who survived to help rescue others, oblivious to the danger to his own life. Decades later, the devastation of that single day continues to reverberate and affect those left behind.

Lyrical and haunting, A World Turned Over is an unforgettable story of awesome destruction -- and a powerful testament to the extraordinary resilience, faith, and heroism of ordinary people visited by fate. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

lushly written
Lorian Hemingway's "A World Turned Over" is beautifully, lushly written. In a dreamer's evocative prose, she tells the story of the severe tornado that struck Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1966, destroying the Candlestick Shopping Center. Hemingway, a girl of 10 at the time, had moved away shortly before the storm came.

More than thirty years later, she returned to there to claim her own memories, and to record the recollections of people whose lives had been forever changed, some by the loss of a family member, some by witnessing sites that burned upon their souls. When they see the sky taking on that peculiar yellow tinge, when they hear the sirens, their bodies respond with pounding hearts, shallow breathing, goosebumps. They react not only to the sight and sounds, but to their own memories.

Suffused with that sense of place which other southern writers also express so well, with the scents, sounds, sights of that region called "home", Hemingway's book will transport you to the Jackson she knew as a child, and to that March afternoon when the familiar world was turned upside down.

This book deserves a wide readership! Highly recommended!

A piece of history for a fellow Jacksonian
I discovered this book through a mention of it in the New York Times Book Review. It caught my eye because I grew up in Jackson, MS. I had heard about the Candlestick Tornado many times in childhood, but knew little about the details. I really enjoyed Ms. Hemingway's ability to evoke the Jackson environment. We also ran behind the fog machine as children, although I lived in North Jackson and there we called it "the mosquito man." Ms. Hemingway writes lyrically, and her descriptions of the people and families affected by the tornado are quite affecting. I had tears in my eyes several times. The only reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the book is a little repetitive, and because I wish she would have told us a little more about the aftermath, how the shopping center owner was able to afford to rebuild his building. A few facts and figures would have added to the book for me. Although I live in the North now, I can say that fellow Southerners will recognize immediately how well Ms. Hemingway describes Southern culture, both then and now. Northerners may learn a thing or two about Southerners by reading this book.

More childhood memoir than disaster book
This book seems out of place in the "disaster book" genre. The author seems more concerned with reliving her childhood. Not a very good read.

Highly Recommended
I would like to make two comments about this book. Most important, it is powerful, beautiful, and interesting, and is a great example of literary reporting, as well as memoir.
My second comment is to express my anger at the amazingly ill-informed and inaccurate comments made by "a reader from Arlington, Virginia," who saw fit to give the lowest rating possible to a book that, by all appearances, he or she has not even read. The comment that it is "poorly researched" could not be further from the truth, and his condescending suggestion that the author should have made use of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History makes him look like a fool, since that institution was cited as a source of information, as was the Eudora Welty Library. The reviewer is right that the town of "Byram" is not spelled correctly, though his argument is rather deflated in light of the fact that he cannot correctly spell the word "rectified" himself. There are many Jackson natives that would take issue with his assertion that there is not a single live oak tree in Jackson. One of the most amazingly ignorant "criticisms" is that "there were very few eyewitness interviews in the book"-----There were more than twenty. Even more outrageous is the claim that there is "very little on the impact the event had upon the community of South Jackson." (sic)
In reality, this impact is the subject of the ENTIRE BOOK.
It's unfortunate that this person's careless reading was translated into a review. Listen instead to The New York Times, which praised A World Turned Over and called it "lush" and "evocative."

Author needs to do her research.
As a native of Jackson, Mississippi (the Belhaven area was my home from birth until I moved to VA at the age of 23) I can honestly say that this book does not do justice to either the people involved or the event itself. I was born in 1973, several years after the infamous tornado, but am very familiar with the story and the places involved in the event. There are many errors regarding locations in south Jackson. The Green Derby (incorrectly listed in the book as the brown derby) was indeed located in south Jackson and was demolished in the late 80's... there is no possible way for the author to have seen it during her research as it simply was not there. The community of BYRAM is consistently referred to as Byrum (a simple glance at any map of the state would have rectified this error). Also, there are no live oaks in Jackson, they are located almost exclusively on the coast. There were very few eyewitness interviews in the book and very little on the impact the event had upon the community of south Jackson. If the author was unable to track down those involved the MS Dept. of Archives and History has a wonderful file filled with eyewitness accounts that is just waiting for a competent researcher. The author states that Candlestick was abandoned due to a lingering sense of doom brought forth by the tornado. In fact, the shopping center did very well for a number of years after the tornado and was only abandoned when the entire south side of Jackson became too dangerous for commerce. The shopping centers that line McDowell Road (mere blocks from Candlestick) are also in a state of disrepair and abandonment and were never subjected to a tornado's wrath. I did not care for Ms. Hemingway's style of writing in the least ... ... Read more

Book Description

On October 8, 2001, the 120-foot luxury SCUBA dive yacht Wave Dancer and its sister ship, Aggressor III, were secured to a concrete dock in southern Belize when they were struck by Hurricane Iris. The small but deadly category four hurricane, with winds of 140 mph and storm surge of fourteen feet, ripped the Wave Dancer from its cleats, tossing it like a toy across the lagoon. When the storm subsided an hour later, twenty of the boat's twenty-eight occupants--most of them members of the Richmond Dive Club in Virginia--were dead.

The investigation of the Wave Dancer tragedy--the worst in the history of recreational diving--revealed that the boat's owner and captain had ignored storm warnings and needlessly endangered the lives of their passengers and crew.

Author Joe Burnworth and his wife, Linda, were passengers on the Aggressor III when the hurricane struck. Burnworth recounts the events leading up to the capsizing of the Wave Dancer, along with the rescue and recovery attempts and the accident's aftermath. ... Read more

Book Description

On the night of September 21, 1938, news on the radio was full of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. There was no mention of severe weather approaching New England. By the time oceanfront residents noticed an ominous yellow color in the sky, it was too late. In a matter of hours, a massive hurricane of unprecedented force ripped its way from Long Island to Providence, obliterating coastal communities, destroying whole commercial fishing fleets from Montauk to Narragansett Bay, and killing seven hundred people. Early that morning, salt fishermen heading out on calm seas noticed a sudden drop in the barometer. Hurtling toward them at a record speed was a hurricane that would strike with catastrophic waves surging over fifty feet. Winds whipped up to 186 miles per hour, trashing boats and smashing homes from Long Island to Connecticut and Rhode Island. Most victims never knew what hit them. Like The Perfect Storm, Burns's spellbinding storytelling follows the storm's punishing path in a seamless and suspenseful narrative, preserving for posterity the legendary story of the Great Hurricane and the personal stories of those affected by its swath of destruction. ... Read more

Book Description

The harrowing stories and vivid images of the most devastating fires throughout history come alive in this groundbreaking volume, rich with history, science and breathtaking real-life adventure.

The 100 most infamous fires through the ages leap full-blown from the pages of FIRE!, complete with the ravages caused by the consuming infernos and the courage of the men and women who fought the conflagrations. Lively artwork and photographs on show blazing buildings, tragedy-stricken survivors, charred destruction, and firefighters in the heat of the battle. Fascinating history, along with technical information about the nature, causes and behavior of fires, take readers into the dangerous and complex world of firefighting, to examine the first fire engines and brigades; to understand how and why fires are sometimes set to put out fires; when airdrops are used; how to avoid dangerous backdrafts; and much, much more. The book features fires from the beginning of recorded history and includes the 1666 Great London Fire, the 1858 New York Crystal Palace Fire, the 1902 Atlantic City Fire, the1906 San Francisco Fire, the World War II Dresden Firestorm, the 1980 MGM Grand Hotel and Casino Fire, the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley Hills Fire and the Los Alamos Wildfires of 2000. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

exciting, fact filled book
Informative book on the tradgedies of FIRE. This book is interesting in that it touches on many different fires from our past and gives important information on each, without being boring. Great pictures and lots of details of who, what, where and when.

This book is written in such a way that you can pick it up at any time and spend as much time as you have, and still feel like you have learned something and been part of it. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Enthralling, Captivating, Dramatic & Historical Accounting
Dr. Zabrowski paints a compelling picture that encompasses the policical, economic, cultural and social life and times of St. Pierre and Martinique a century ago. This amazing scientific book captures the reader much as you might expect of an intrieguing substantative novel. One's fund of knowledge is easily and enjoyablly advanced with regard to natural disasters, human behavior, history, etc. The scope of his research left no stone unturned to the point that one can almost imagine walking along the cobble stone streets in the St. Pierre of yesterday. Thunderous Mt. Pelee as well as the people and political characters come alive in living color. This author's ability to captivate is unequalled as he recounts scientifically and with historical accuracy these century old events. This would make a good movie. I will eagerly await more from Dr. Ernest Zebrowski.

zebrowski does not ignore the human side
perhaps the debate "is zebrowski's book a scientific account or a novel?" is best understood when we look at a simple fact: it has a human side. no writing can be strictly an "account" if it takes on the brutal task of touching on not just the facts but the sociological effects of such a disaster, as zebrowski's story does. and the humanization of a scientific fact of life is not a fault.

a novel or an account... why can't it be both? after all, what is a great story if not a wonderful descripton of a point in time, with characters and dialogue-and truth, at that.

and spelling geographical terms in a different way than we are used to is not a "liberty," it is a choice.

this is a truly phenomenal book. dr. zebrowski is clearly a scientist-and a writer.

A Year on Bald Mountain
On the morning of May 8, 1902, a massive pyroclastic flow surged down the flank of Mt Pelee on the island of Martinique in the French West Indies. The searing cloud slammed into the city of St Pierre; within two minutes, the city was a pile of smoking rubble and 30,000 people were dead.

Asked to name the greatest volcanic disasters in history, most people would probably offer up Mt Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum; they might also volunteer the explosion of Krakatoa or the even more recent eruption of Mt. St Helens. Mt Pelee and St Pierre are usually only vaguely recalled, which is remakable given the sheer size of the human tragedy.

Zebrowski's book does a marvelous job of taking the reader back to 1902, when scientists understood far less than they do now about what volcanos can do. The series of eruptions at Mt Pelee were triggered by the rise of a huge bulge of magma from the subduction zone beneath the Lesser Antilles. These forces set off Mt La Soufriere on the island of St Vincent, where pyroclastic flows and lahars killed two thousand people the day before St Pierre was destroyed; the rising magma also erupted in an undersea volcano at a spot called Kick 'em Jenny.

Zebrowski describes the weeks leading to the eruption of Mt Pelee and how the local inhabitants and French bureacracy struggled to understand what they were up against. The blame for the disaster is often laid at the feet of Louis Mouttet, the governor of Martinique, but it is difficult to imagine what else he could have done. At the time, scientists thought of volcanic eruptions in terms of slow moving rivers of lava rather than swift and deadly pyrolastic flows and lahars. If Mouttet had tried to evacuate St. Pierre, he would have had very little support; even if he had succeeded, he would have created an enormous refugee crisis.

Zebrowski explains what life in St Pierre was like before the disaster, how Martinique's inhabitants coped with the increasingly dangerous volcano in their midst, what happened to the city and its people when the volcano erupted and afterward, how the French government handled (or failed to handle) the aftermath of the disaster, and how a courageous group of scientists and journalists explored the still-erupting volcano to understand what had happened. Zebrowski has chosen a rich canvas for a gripping tale, and he makes the most of it in this well-written book.

Buy & Read this Book!!!!
An exceptionally well written and documented book. Previously I had read accounts of this disaster, but none had the depth of Dr. Zebrowski's book on the total destruction of the city of St. Pierre and devastation of much of the Islands of Martinique and St. Vincent. He covers the human side of this tragedy with accuracy and compassion. Zebrowski has drawn from many sources and put the accumulated information into a very readable book. Anyone who likes to read about historical/scientific events should enjoy "The Last Days of St. Pierre".

Enthralling
I recently read Simon Winchester's "Krakatoa", and it put me to sleep. But here is a fascinating nonfiction book on a similar subject--a historic volcanic disaster--that doesn't seem to have gotten much promotion from its publisher, yet has all the elements that enthrall the reader-- tension, character development, suspense, surprise, substance... leading the reader to often gaze up at the ceiling and say "hmmm..."

The author has done a marvelous job of bringing alive characters that have been dead for a century. Fundamentally, however, this book is about ignorance-- how a lack of knowledge of natural geological processes led to some egregiously erroneous political decisions that sealed the terrible fate of 30,000 humans on the island of Martinique in 1902.

The author, however, does not insult the reader's intelligence, and your conclusions from this fascinating book will be your own. ... Read more

Book Description

Throughout history, varying responses to catastrophe have revealed much about a society's cultural and philosophical character. In Dreadful Visitations, leading scholars of different disciplines examine eighteenth-century responses to natural disaster, showing how human agency played an active role in the creation of destructive circumstances, and how these disasters helped to establish national and moral identities in the Age of Reason.

Contributors: David Arnold, Daniel Gordon, Carla Hesse, George Starr, Alan Taylor, Steven Tobriner and Charles Walker. ... Read more

Book Description

History, travel writing, and human tragedy collide in a heart-stopping work of narrative nonfiction.

On May 8th, 1902, Mont Pelée in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, erupted, killing almost 30,000 people instantly and completely destroying the city known as the Paris of the Caribbean. It was a spectacular, biblical, horrifying disaster, without a doubt the most sensational event of its time. Days later, rescue teams heard cries from the rubble and uncovered Ludger Sylbaris, a twenty-seven-year-old laborer who had spent the night of the eruption in jail for his involvement in a bar fight and turned out to be-against all odds-the only known survivor.He was soon world famous, traveling across America as part of Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.

Using written eyewitness accounts and historical research, Peter Morgan spins this tale and more into a spellbinding narrative. Framed by Martinique's painful history, the disaster reveals layer upon layer of corruption: a French governor more concerned with public image than the safety of his fellow islanders, the moral conflict of a scientist who knew the risks but was told to keep them quiet, and the tangle of colonial attitudes that ultimately caused the death of thousands.

With deft, literary strokes, in a book rich in detail, Peter Morgan delivers all the political intrigue, drama, heroism, and villainy of the greatest suspense novel - and every word is true.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Beautiful Place
I read this book in two sittings,barely able to put it down. Peter Morgan's description of the ill-fated Saint Pierre painted pictures in my mind. The horror of that fateful day in 1902 I felt was portrayed in an honest yet respectful manner. The only thing I was disapointed with was that there wasn't as much information on Ludger Sylbaris as I had anticipated. Despite this I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or volcanoes.

The Lonliest Survivor
"Science, history and human tragedy collide in a heart-stopping tale of natural catastrophe." - from the dust jacket.

Author Peter Morgan makes a canny choice in his book "Fire Mountain" by focusing on the life of the single survivor of the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique in 1902 that completely destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre. By telling the story of the incredible survival of Ludger Sylbaris and his subsequent career as a sideshow oddity in the Barnum & Bailey circus, Morgan warmly humanizes what otherwie would have just been another run-of-the-mill disaster story.

Morgan carefully reconstructs the events leading up to the destruction of Saint-Pierre, describing the city and the colorful personalities in what was then a French colonial town. Called the "Paris of the Caribbean," it was caught totally unprepared when Pelee began erupting a few months before the final disaster. The residents convinced themselves that they were far enough away to be safe before the mountain exploded in much the same manner as Mount St. Helens, utterly erasing the city from the map.

In the aftermath, resucuers picking over the rubble made a startling discovery. Ludger Sylbaris somehow managed to survive the disaster in a solitary confinement cell in the local jail. Though horribly burned, he became an instant celebrity. When Barnum & Bailey made him a part of the so-called "Greatest Show on Earth," he became the first black man ever to grace the stage of the segregated show.

Morgan is an excellent histroian and a good storyteller, and the book contains numerous photographs and illustrations to help the reader. At just over 230 pages of narrative, this is a highly readable and very enjoyable work. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Excellent Academic Work
Klinenberg does a wonderful job of introducing us to the social conditions that were necessary for the disaster in Chicago to take place during the summer of 1995. The conditions, we learn, were primarily spatially problematic. I don't want to give too much away - but I'll say this: with dense urban environements, this disaster never would have happened. The North/South Lawndale experience was especially effective. Klinenberg kept me going almost all the way through the book, so I highly recommend it. I only give him 4 stars because he loses the idea of density at some point and harps (too much, IMO) on the media. That's fine, though: he did his research, and this book is excellent.

The hidden Chicago
Not all that far away from the glitter and pizazz of the Miracle Mile is the hidden Chicago, where seedy SROs warehouse forgotten senior citizens, and the much-publicized heat wave exposed the horrible conditions that these members of our "Greatest Generation" endure. Our public health care system is a rip-off that we pay more for and get less from than any other industrialized nation in the world. We should ask not only if Chicago learned its lesson from the heat wave, but if we as a nation have learned ours. We can do better than this. geocities.com/singlepayerweb

Brillant
Dr. Klinenberg helps us as readers, citizens, and media-watchers reconceptualize heat waves as meterological disasters to social ones. He argues that such a reconceptualization allows us to understand that society is responsible and SHOULD be responsible for deaths. The brillant part of his book is that he does not pin the blame on any one person, one entity, or one organization. He shows how residents of neighborhoods, the spatial organizations of neighborhoods, politicians, local and national governments, the media, and even history play a role in why these deaths occurred and why the numbers were as significant as they are. Thus, we are all responsible!

The book looks at the phenomenon through more than just through the lens of statistics. His ethnographic work helps to look at the lives and qualitative nuances of the numbers. We hear the explanations and the critiques of the residents in the neighborhoods that were hit the hardest by the heat wave deaths. In addition, KLinenberg places their voices in conversation with reporters at the time, insiders of the Daly regime, public health officials, and even police officers. Therefore, we see the phenomenon from both the "official" and "unofficial" sources.

Anyone who is an activist, an academic, or a citizen of any American city should read this book. It will change your perspective on how urban areas really operate and SHOULD operate.

This book will make Dr. Klinenberg one of the foremost scholars of our time.

Killer Heat, Killer Neglect
What weather phenomenon kills the most people in America? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Floods? Add those up and they will still not total the deaths attributed to the real killer: heat waves. The other phenomena yield good pictures, and that is one reason you don't hear much about heat deaths. But according to Eric Klinenberg, an assistant professor of sociology at New York University, there is another, more subtle reason. Victims of a heat wave "are primarily social outcasts - the elderly, the poor, and the isolated - from whom we customarily turn away." In _Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago_ (University of Chicago Press), Klinenberg has looked at the week-long heat wave of July 1995, which killed over 700 people. (Another comparison: the famous Chicago fire of 1871 killed about three hundred.) In Chicago, the heat hit up to 106 degrees, with a heat index over 120. Cars broke down in the streets, and bridges, rails, and roads buckled. Even with the windows open, brick homes could heat up to 120 degrees. The heat killed, but it did not just kill randomly. In clear, objective, but often biting pages, Klinenberg shows the patterns of urban life that brought death to certain regions and certain social groups.

One group was the elderly, clearly disproportionately killed by the heat. This might be attributed simply to their bodies having fewer physiological resources to protect them. Indeed, the government of Chicago tried to explain the deaths of elders this way; the heat only culled those who were going to be dying soon anyway. There is no medical evidence that this was the case; they simply were unconnected with society, and when they died alone in their rooms, it was long before absences were noticed. Klinenberg argues forcefully that the Chicago government, at different levels, did not respond to the disaster as it would have a big fire or a train wreck. When deaths mounted, Mayor Daley was able to frame the issue as a "debate" about the rising number of deaths, when there was no scientific controversy about the matter. Human Services Commissioner Daniel Alvarez did a classic move of blaming the victim, saying, "We're talking about people who die because they neglect themselves. We did everything possible. But some people didn't want to even open their doors to us." The media also come in for criticism. They took up the artificial controversy generated by the mayor about whether the heat deaths were "real" or not. There was little analysis about which regions were being the most affected and why, and the official city version of how little could be done against an act of God was repeatedly parroted. By the time the reporters did a comprehensive story, it was "old news" and didn't run.

No one was more forgotten than forty-one victims whose bodies no one claimed or cared about. They languished in the county morgue until August, when they were buried in a huge common trench in a potter's field. Visiting the site in preparation for the book, Klinenberg learned that a few reporters had come now and then to see it, but no Chicagoans and no family members. Social and governmental forces can't control the heat, he reminds us, but they can make deaths easy to overlook and forget. His book is a pointed effort to keep that from happening.

A tragedy on many levels
Eric Klinenberg's new book "Heat Wave" gives readers a tremendous insight into the Chicago heat wave of 1995. He approaches this tragedy from several fronts. He begins with an account of what happened during the several days of stifling heat and continues with a look at the social impact of living and dying alone, why certain neighborhoods lost more people than others and exposes a city ill-prepared to handle the mounting number of deaths. Klinenberg continues with an assault on the politics of Chicago, the response of the mayor and those around him and finishes with an adept look at the media's role and response to the deaths of over 700 people.

Although at times the author writes in a dry style he nonetheless portrays the Chicago heat wave as a catastrophic failure on many levels. Klinenberg gets down to the root of some socio-economic problems that beset Chicago and tells us the "whys" of their causes. Many things stood out as I read this important and often scary book, but one thing kept coming through....although heat waves are discriminating killers the solutions are there if right decisions are made at the right times, by governments and citizens alike.

A sad and ironic end to "Heat Wave" is told in the form of a senior editor at The Chicago Tribune who decided to relate this tragedy from both a human and social side. As Chicago cooled down his work went on. Unfortunately, only a small part of the story was ever printed as the paper decided that in the chill of November few readers would be interested in a story that had occurred during the blistering heat only a few months before.

I highly recommend this book. It is a service to help us understand what happened during July of that year. As the author points out, this could happen again. ... Read more