Sallenger, Abby. 2009. Island in a storm: a rising sea, a vanishing coast, and a nineteenth-century disaster that warns of a warmer world. New York, NY: PublicAffairs.
In Island in a Storm , Abby
Salenger historically recounts the massive hurricane that hit the New Orleans
area in the 1855. She uses historical documents, personal journals, personal
interviews and other books in order to paint a very lifelike and exciting image
otherwise impossible. You can tell a lot of research went into writing this
book and that reflects the quality of the story itself. Salenger makes us feel
like we are right there with the victims even though neither he nor us were
alive at the time.
This book provides is written in a third
person narrative and combines a storytelling aspect with overall scientific
commentary which leads to it being far more valuable as a book of study for
this course. The best part about this book is how the author weaves in
scientific information and knowledge into the story. She tells about early
weather forecasting and the processes that it involved. For instance she
explained how the first national weather system was developed when people from
stations across the United States would telegram in the weather to a
headquarters in D.C. Then she also explains how people best forecasted weather
events based on prior knowledge and the signs leading up to each event. The
issue is when the forecasters had no prior knowledge of an event, or limited
knowledge , and this is what the whole book covers.
The story’s
setting follows wealthy antebellum era plantation owners and multiple ship
captains, along with multiple other brief side stories. Chapter one sets the
stage in Louisiana by describing what was then the most devastating event was
upon the city; yellow fever. This chapter follows a doctor through the mystery
of a civilians death, he eventually figures it out yellow fever was the
culprit. Chapters two and three bring us to our main characters, the Mille
family who were a wealthy family who made their money growing sugarcane. This
chapter discusses the agricultural and social climate of the area during this
time. We also find out that the Mille family vacations on a resort island a few
miles offshore called Isle Derniere, where they and other wealthy families
congregate to escape the heat and yellow fever in New Orleans. Chapter four and
five are great chapters that discuss the early forms of weather forecasting.
These chapters are fascinating and follow a few prominent antebellum era
climatologists and their arguments about how to best forecast and study
weather. Chapters six and seven are about the approaching storm. Salenger
describes how the storm formed far out in the ocean and then approached the
continental U.S., and the multiple ‘warning signs’ that the people on the
island were experiencing; but had no way to know what was coming. Chapters
eight through fourteen are told in short, fast paced story blurbs that recount
the actual event of the hurricane arriving on the island resort. The story is
told from eyewitness accounts the author has uncovered from past interviews and
personal journals, which the author then uses to create a very vivid and
emotional image. Chapters fifteen and sixteen explain how survivors were able
to escape with their lives by clutching to driftwood and debris from the island
resort. The prologue wraps the book up and makes a few critical comments on the
events that transpired, as well as what the people of today should take away
from a story like this.
Overall this book
did a good job of setting the stage for the reader to learn more about a few
things; Hurricanes and their formation, historical social ‘climate’ of the
antebellum era, weather forecasting and the advances it has made and the ideas
it stems from, and finally what we have learned as humanity about the
environment around us. Even though events like Katrina or Sandy leave massive
destruction in their wake, we have adapted as a society in many ways since the
books setting, and quick comparisons that readers can make illustrate these beautifully.
If
you like history, read it. If you like weather, read it. If you enjoy a fast
paced recount of historical events, read it. This book is worth read and can be
completed in a single day with a hot beverage by your side. Great book, and a
great supplement to this Envrionmental Hazards course.
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