Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson
from Vintage
On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city, while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history.
In Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston, its people, and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm, Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm's aftermath. There's Louisa Rollfing, who begged her husband, August, not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary's orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer, who huddled in his bathroom with his family and neighbors, hoping to ride out the storm. At the center of it all is Isaac Cline, employee of the nascent Weather Bureau, and his younger brother--and rival weatherman--Joseph. Larson does an excellent job of piecing together Isaac's life and reveals that Isaac was not the quick-thinking hero he claimed to be after the storm ended. The storm itself, however, is the book's true protagonist--and Larson describes its nuances in horrific detail.
At times the prose is a bit too purple, but Larson is engaging and keeps the book's tempo rising in pace with the wind and waves. Overall, Isaac's Storm recaptures at a time when, standing in the first year of the century, Americans felt like they ruled the world--and that even the weather was no real threat to their supremacy. Nature proved them wrong. --Sunny Delaney
Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United States--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck land near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney
September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devestating personal tragedy.
Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football
by Jim Dent
from Thomas Dunne Books
More than a century ago, a school was constructed in Fort Worth, Texas, for the purpose of housing and educating the orphans of Texas Freemasons. It was a humble project that for years existed quietly on a hillside east of town. Life at the Masonic Home was about to change, though, with the arrival of a lean, bespectacled coach by the name of Rusty Russell. Here was a man who could bring rain in the midst of a drought. Here was a man who, in virtually no time at all, brought the orphans’ story into the homes of millions of Americans.
In the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing bigger in Texas high school football than the Masonic Home Mighty Mites—a group of orphans bound together by hardship and death. These youngsters, in spite of being outweighed by at least thirty pounds per man, were the toughest football team around. They began with nothing—not even a football—yet in a few years were playing for the state championship on the highest level of Texas football. This is a winning tribute to a courageous band of underdogs from a time when America desperately needed fresh hope and big dreams.
The Mighty Mites remain a notable moment in the long history of American sports. Just as significant is the depth of the inspirational message. This is a profound lesson in fighting back and clinging to faith. The real winners in Texas high school football were not the kids from the biggest schools, or the ones wearing the most expensive uniforms. They were the scrawny kids from a tiny orphanage who wore scarred helmets and faded jerseys that did not match, kids coached by a devoted man who lived on peanuts and drove them around in a smoke-belching old truck.
In writing a story of unforgettable characters and great football, Jim Dent has come forward to reclaim his place as one of the top sports authors in America today.
A remarkable and inspirational story of an orphanage and the man who created one of the greatest football teams Texas has ever known . . . this is their story—the original Friday Night Lights.
—Verne Lundquist, CBS Sports
“Coach Rusty Russell and the Mighty Mites will steal your heart as they overcome every obstacle imaginable to become a respected football team. Take an orphanage, the Depression, and mix it with Texas high school football, and Jim Dent has authored another winner, this one about the ultimate underdog.’’
—Brent Musburger, ABC Sports/ESPN
“No state has a roll call of legendary high school football stories like we do in Texas, and, admittedly, some of those stories have been ‘expanded’ over the years when it comes to the truth. But let Jim Dent tell you about the Mighty Mites of Masonic Home, the pride of Fort Worth in the dark days of the Depression. Read this book. You will think it’s fiction. You will think it’s a Hollywood script. But Twelve Mighty Orphans is the truth, and nothing but. It is powerful stuff. Some eighty years later, the Mighty Mites’ story remains so sacred, not even a Texan would dare tamper with these facts. And Jim Dent tells it like it was.”
— Randy Galloway, columnist, Fort-Worth Star Telegram
A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West 1830-1885
by Gregory Michno
from Caxton Press
Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State
by Randolph B. Campbell
from Oxford University Press, USA
Gone to Texas engagingly tells the story of the Lone Star State, from the arrival of humans in the Panhandle more than 10,000 years ago to the opening of the twenty-first century. Focusing on the state's successive waves of immigrants, the book offers an inclusive view of the vast array of Texans who, often in conflict with each other and always in a struggle with the land, created a history and an idea of Texas.
Striking a balance between revisionist and traditional approaches to history, author Randolph B. Campbell tells the stories of the colorful individuals and events that shaped the history of Texas, giving equal treatment to the lives of men like Sam Houston and to women and minorities in Texas's history. He addresses the fact that Texas is widely regarded as a special state-a place with a story that appeals to millions of people, many of whom have never even been there-and examines what created this idea of Texan distinctiveness. Organized chronologically, the text focuses on five main themes: Texas as a "forgotten" province of the Spanish empire that was only protected when some other nation threatened to occupy it; the interpretation of the Texas Revolution as a clash between two disparate cultures rather than as a deliberate, pre-conceived plan by the U.S. to steal the province from Mexico; the identification of Texas as a Southern rather than Western state in terms of its demographic, cultural, economic, and political influences and development; Texas's distinction not as a "unique" state but rather as the exaggerated embodiment of traditional American ideals and emotions such as individualism, personal liberty, and violence; and the two-hundred-year-old history of Texas as a destination for immigrants seeking new opportunities.
Vividly capturing the adventure and conflict of this state's legendary past, Gone to Texas is ideal for undergraduate courses in Texas history.
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier
by Scott Zesch
from St. Martin's Griffin
That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historians rigor and a novelists eye, Zesch paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.
Seasons in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team in History"-The 1973-1975 Texas Rangers
by Mike Shropshire
from Bison Books
The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 (Tom Doherty Associates Book)
by Mike Cox
from Forge Books
The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey
by Mark Lemon
from State House Press
The most iconic historic place in America may also be the most misunderstood.
For more than 170 years, the true nature and appearance of the Alamo, the cradle of Texas liberty, has eluded historians and artists alike. Partially demolished soon after the famous battle, the mission/fortress's appearance grew more and more indistinct. Even more recently, Hollywood has itself compounded the problem by redesigning the place to suit the artistic purposes of the dramatic script.
But the truth was lurking all along, in old sketches, plats, diagrams, and later archeological digs. Now for the first time, all of the available sources have been meticulously consulted and brought together to create the most accurate illustrated book on the true appearance of the Alamo in 1836 ever produced.
The reader is taken through the entire compound, inside and out, room to room, and shown areas never before depicted. For clarity, the compound is divided into sectors, each chapter covering a sector, which is then explored in detail. Through extremely realistic photo-illustrations, as well as dramatic original artwork with explanatory text, the author breathes new life into the 1836 Alamo, and makes it real.
Scholars, students, artists, and readers of history all will find this a fascinating journey back in time.
The History of Texas
by Robert A. Calvert
from Harlan Davidson
The principle that all peoples make history continues to drive the Third Edition of our well-loved text, one that continues to consider the different cultures withing the state as well as the unique heritage shared by all Texans. Unlike other state surveys, The History of Texas goes beyond accounts of well-known figures to consider the lives of ordinary Texans, as seen in the continued and expanded coverage of topics such as agriculture, industrialization, urbanization, economic disparity, migration patterns, and demographic change. And like its predecessors, the Third Edition still features the history of folklore, music, literature, sports, religion, and other important aspects of Texas culture that help determine the flavor of Texas, past and present. The Third Edition has been extensively reedited and revised, making it accesible to student readers of all levels and representative of the latest historical research. And in view of the myriad and rapid events that have occurred since the publication of the last edition, the last chapter has been completely rewritten by new contributing author Gregg Cantrell. The result is a comprehensive account of Texas History from 1970 right up to fall of 2001. Featuring new maps, photographs, as well as new material throughout, The History of Texas remains the most inclusive, relevant, and up-to-date account of all those who call the Lone Star State home. A complimentary Instructor's Test Bank for the Third Edition of The History of Texas is available on CD-ROM.
Trees, Shrubs, And Vines Of The Texas Hill Country: A Field Guide (W L Moody, Jr, Natural History Series)
by Jan Wrede
from Texas A&M University Press
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