A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes
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4.3 • 38 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Washington Post • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020
Finalist • Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction
Kirkus Reviews • Best Nonfiction Books of 2020
Library Journal • Best Science & Technology Books of 2020
Booklist • 10 Top Sci-Tech Books of 2020
New York Times Book Review • Editor's Choice
With A Furious Sky, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin tells the history of America itself through its five-hundred-year battle with the fury of hurricanes.
In this “compelling” chronicle (New York Times Book Review), Eric Jay Dolin tells the history of America through its battles with hurricanes.Weaving together tales of tragedy and folly, of heroism and scientific progress, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin shows how hurricanes have time and again determined the course of American history, from the nameless storms that threatened the New World voyages to our own era of global warming and megastorms. Along the way, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, and forces us to reckon with the reality that future storms will likely be worse, unless we reimagine our relationship with the planet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Dolin (Black Flags, Blue Waters) delivers a fast-paced and informative history of American hurricanes from the 16th century through the 2017 season, when a record-setting three storms made landfall. Though Dolin's question of "how we can learn to survive and adapt" to hurricanes in the era of climate change doesn't receive deep analysis, the book successfully documents the impact of storms such as the 1900 Galveston Hurricane (in which an estimated 8,000 10,000 people died) and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, which killed hundreds of WWI veterans building the Overseas Highway in the Florida Keys. Milestones in the scientific understanding of hurricanes include Father Benito Vi es's observational studies in 19th-century Cuba and the U.S. military's "Hurricane Hunter" flights, which began in WWII and employed new radar technology to capture real-time data from inside storms; the information was eventually used to create computer models to predict hurricane behavior. Dolin also explains hurricane naming conventions and credits Dan Rather's 1961 Hurricane Carla broadcasts, which showed radar images of the storm, with changing how they're reported. Packed with intriguing miscellanea, this accessible chronicle serves as a worthy introduction to the subject. Readers will be awed by the power of these storms and the wherewithal of people to recover from them.
Customer Reviews
Finally, a detailed book about hurricane history!
I absolutely love this, it’s my kind of book! It’s amazing and very well written.