Customer Reviews

Caught In The Path, A Tornado's Fury, A Community's Rebirth

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Smudging our national fabric are stains of disaster like the one smeared across the southern suburbs of Kansas City one muggy night in 1957. Through her own experiences as a child survivor, and those of dozens of living witnesses, Brewer has compiled a rich and true tale of the impact, recovery, and lingering torment from a multiple-vortex, F5 tornado. Warnings weren't too accurate or timely then; the weather bulletin advised residents only of the threat of high winds and hail. When the vortex struck, 44 people died, over 500 others lay injured, and thousands of families' lives were torn loose from the security of bustling, post-war, Levittown-style suburbia. As the stories unfold, one can almost see the smoldering rubble, and smell the aroma of electrical ozone and shredded trees.

Concurrent parts of the survivors' inverviews are excerpted together in each chronological chapter, from the tornado's first sightings to recollection from the 1990s. The book could have used another diligent proofreader or two. Its organization is rather choppy; and there are too many misspellings. The research, however, was resoundingly thorough, rendering a richly endowed anthology of personal tales from a single evening of terror long ago.

Tornado survivors, disaster historians and Kansas City residents alike will appreciate Caught in the Path; however, its most needed audience may be severe weather aficionados: storm chasers, storm spotters and professional meteorologists. To them (and me, a former NSSFC forecaster), Brewer shows the side of severe weather we too often fail to appreciate when we research, forecast, or observe storms. Through these pages, the survivors of Kansas City's last violent tornado teach us lessons about what happens beneath those radar echoes and dark clouds. Their tales of survival show us why we do what we do -- to minimize such carnage and horror whenever the big one hits again, anywhere, anytime.

I came across this book on a visit to St. Louis and grabbed it. It may just be the best book ever written about a tornado--it's riveting start to finish and the spotlight is on people and their lives. It's a great movie in print with a terrific plot, memorable characters and a lot of heroism mixed in.

Carolyn Brewer's book took me on a journey to my past, Her recounting of the Ruskin Heights tornado through interviews with survivors made those intense Summer evenings come rushing back like the storm winds themselves. No one who grew up in "Tornado Alley" could read this book and not be moved. I applaud her courage and that of the people who shared that night of terror with all of us.

Carolyn Brewer does an excellent job of putting the reader in the path of the deadly Ruskin Heights, Missouri, tornado. The tales from the survivors are timeless and should be remembered each Spring. It is a sometimes sad, yet beautiful story of a community coming together under catastrophic circumstances. Brave men, women and children who, after losing everything to the most violent temper of nature, form as one to rebuild. This is a MUST read for anyone living in "tornado alley" which, given the year of El Nino, has expanded its right-of-way. DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!!!

Like several of the other reviewers, I lived through the "'57 Tornado" as we came to call it. We were lucky, in that we lived just on the *other* side of the railroad tracks, about a block north of C.A. Burke School. We lost a few windows, but that was about it. I was only five years old at the time, but I remember clearly the sound, and I remember seeing the tornado pass as I huddled with my two brothers under a mattress and looked out the basement window.

No one ever talked about it much. But it continued to impact our lives in some not-too-obvious ways. One of my strongest recollections is grade school art class at C.A. Burke. We were going to make "mosaic" trivets for our mothers. We went out to the playground, and were told to gather bits of broken ceramic tile to use. We all found plenty (and this was at least 3 years after the tornado). We placed these bits of broken history into tin cottage cheese container lids, and poured in the "grout." Mine contained the pieces of what I'm sure was someone's beige and brown bathroom, which I had carefully placed in the pattern of a long-handled saucepan. I think my mother still has that trivet.

Carolyn Glenn graduated with my older brother's class. I haven't kept in touch with many folks, but I certainly recognized a lot of names in her book. Judy Hembree and Janice Steinbrueck were classmates of mine; Blaine Steck was our principal at Ruskin High. We later moved south a few blocks to a house just 3 doors down from Mr. Nesbit, who was at that time superintendant of schools.

Carolyn has managed to capture the terror of that night via the accounts narrated by the victims themselves. And the events that occurred afterward still shape attitudes and friendships today. I now know, for example, why my parents were always so "negative" about the Red Cross, and so positive about the Salvation Army. I never understood it until I read how each agency treated some of the victims.

The way people bond together after a disaster is clearly presented, too. And I also rememberd the sense of humor exhibited in the face of unspeakable loss -- the crudely lettered signs that appeared on the wreckage, telling the milkman not to bother to stop that day, or "Here lies our mortgage." What indomitable spirit these young families had that enabled them to rebuild and go on with their lives.

I haven't thought about this tornado in some years, but was reminded about it a few days ago, by someone I've recently met, who was also there.

I was very little at the time, turning three-years-old just a few months before. Even though I was very young, I remember CLEARLY that day and the events that have stayed with me forever.

My dad had loaded us up in the car to take my mom, me and my brother (he was only 6 months old at the time) to do some shopping at the Ruskin Heights shopping center. After getting something to eat, my mom took me into a store to try on some shoes. (I remember those little black patent leather Mary Janes, and remember wanting them badly! Oh...and I'm still a shoes hound today.) While we shopped, my dad was waiting outside in the car with my brother, and was watching the sky, as was typical for people to do at that time, since weather forecasting was certainly no science back then. And he had a healthy respect for our locality, known as tornado alley.

He said as he watched, he felt very uneasy. He said the sky didn't look right him. As the clouds quickly turned to greenish black and began to circulate, he KNEW we were in trouble and we had to get out of there IMMEDIATELY. He ran into the store, and I CLEARLY remember him yelling for my mom and me. I was petrified at the look on his face. I remember her protesting...she wanted to buy me my shoes! He said if we didn't get out of there that instant, we were going to be in big trouble. I remember a couple of people were looking at us, kind of standing there frozen, as my dad was saying to LEAVE NOW. I remember my parents RUNNING out of that store, and my feet sort of flying out behind me as they had grabbed me and ran. We piled into the car and drove back home as FAST as possible. As we were driving away, stuff started flying around everywhere, and some debris hit the car as my dad drove us out of the area like a crazy person. I remember my mom screaming. We lived in the area, and I remember going immediately into our storm shelter when we got back home, even though we weren't in the path of the tornado. It seemed then like we were huddled in there for hours, but I'm sure it wasn't too long at all.

I found out later the store we were shopping in was FLATTENED in the tornado, and I'd heard some people were killed there...which we likely would've been had we stayed there shopping.

Reading this book after all these years has brought back the memories like they happened yesterday. Interestingly, I've had recurring tornado dreams almost all my life (probably because of that storm) and just found out a couple of months ago, that my brother does, too! I'm amazed that even though both of us were so young...and he was just a baby at that time...we both have vivid memories of what happened that day.

I, too, lived through the Ruskin Heights tornado. I am older than Carolyn and did not know her, but I know many of the people she interviewed for the book. Reading it was like a visit with old friends. Truly, whenever I get together with my Ruskin friends, the tornado is always a topic of conversation. In fact, I'm ordering a copy of the book for a friend who missed it. I'm glad to find it still available.

I graduated from Ruskin High School in 1954, and my younger brother graduated in 1957. The baccalaureate service had been held in the high school gym on Sunday afternoon, and commencement was scheduled for Tuesday evening. But Monday evening the high school blew away.

We lived on Highway 71, across from the Crest Drive-In Theater. I worked as a legal secretary in downtown KC and was working late that night. My boss tried to take me home but we were turned back at the intersection of Prospect and Highway 71. I asked the man who turned us back if he knew whether the Crest theater screen was still standing, and he said he wasn't sure but he thought it was. If the tornado followed the usual directional path, it would have gotten the movie screen before it got our house; so I was reasonably assured that our house was still there.

I went to a friend's house in KC and without expecting success, picked up the phone to call my mother. I got no dial tone, just an open line, and tentatively said "hello?" And my mother answered me! She had just dialed the friend's number and I had picked up the phone before it rang. By this incredible luck I learned that night that our house was undamaged. The tornado passed about a quarter of a mile south of us.

Last week I had dinner with a group of friends from that era. One man told about working far into that night looking for and rescuing survivors with a fire department unit in the Hickman Orchard. He said his crew could see looters working the houses just ahead of them. They couldn't do anything about the looters because they were focusing on finding survivors. A sad but true tale.

Carolyn Brewer did a great job with this book. It is a real service to help us remember.

Ms. Brewer's book performs many useful services for those of us who had "up close and personal" experience with this monster. I now can provide printed proof that the tornado really did eat my high school transcripts.

That was, of course, a small loss compared to what might have happened. The tornado struck the night in between the Baccalaureate and Commencement, on either of which most of my classmates, many of our staff, and I would all have been gathered under the crosshairs in our beautiful new gymnasium. Survival by many would have been chancy at best.

I must differ with other reviewers about the pictures. You must understand that mortar, bricks, and steel girders were so many tinkertoys to be knocked asunder, as by a giant at play.

We all heard about the car that hit the water tower. This story, along with less well-known hair-raising incidents are in this book. More than that, the efforts by local officials, most notably Kansas City's mayor H. Roe Bartle, both to maintain order the night of the tornado and to aid recovery, are covered well. At the time, the damaged area was not part of corporate KC, so Bartle was under no obligation. The remarkable arrangement of eyewitness accounts makes for a flexibility not often found in this kind of narrative.

Ive recently read alot of books on Tornadoes and this one was probably the best. It is very well written- the author really makes you feel like you were there.

It goes into great detail from beginning to end. I read this book in 2 days. I could not put it down! Anyone interested in tornadoes and their effect on people-get this book. She also includes unbeleiveable photos and stories that you have to see to beleive. A+++ book.

My dad and grandparents/aunt/uncle were in this tornado, and so I grew up hearing stories about it. Their house in Ruskin Heights wasn't significantly damaged - they lost a chimney and their garage was damaged. They were fortunate; my grandma had been shopping at the A&P with all the kids, while my grandpa was outside smoking. He saw the tornado and went in to drag them out, leaving all of the groceries behind. If he hadn't been outside, who knows what would have happened? My dad vividly remembered seeing the tornado out of the back window of their car, and even recalls seeing a car being lifted up by the tornado and hit the water tower (this is mentioned in the book). They took shelter in the garage (obviously not the safest place). My grandpa was protecting my dad and aunt, while my grandma had my uncle, just a few months old at the time. The force of the tornado was so strong that when the garage door blew open, my dad started sliding away from my grandpa. My grandpa grabbed him by his shoulder so tightly that my dad's shoulder was dislocated. Luckily, that was the only injury sustained in the family, but they knew several people who died. My grandparents are both gone now, as is my dad, and I wish I'd had this book years ago so that I could ask them about it. Surely since they were safe, my grandpa must have gone out into the neighborhood to help others, but they never talked about the aftermath. Strong winds always scared my grandma, and like many others they had a storm shelter built immediately after the tornado.

The book is a fantastic set of interviews and recollections from that night and the following summer as people returned to their lives. Some of the stories are real tear-jerkers, but it's amazing to see what a human body can survive.

There are a few typos (one in a picture caption), and the organization was hard to follow. The author organizes it first into timing categories (before, during, and after the storm), and then by person. It's hard to keep up with the many different people she interviewed, but thankfully she has a name index so you can go back and follow individual stories. Otherwise it's hard to remember who said what in the previous section(s).

I became a meteorologist (I work for the National Weather Service) because I heard these stories growing up. They had a very profound effect on me. Like Roger Edwards said, books like these are a great reminder for those of us who issue warnings that there is most definitely a personal side to every warning.