11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE - ONE OF THE TOP FIVE BEST READS I'VE HAD THIS YEAR., June 9, 2009
This review is from: Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World (Hardcover)
At first glance, you would wonder as to the timeliness of a book addressing a devastating storm which occurred in 1856 and slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and in particular, a small resort island; Isle Derniere. After reading just the first chapter of this rather unique and amazing work, the wonder will disappear as you, the reader will start recognizing quite familiar situations, granted, often stored in the back of the mind, but never the less there. The message of this work is timeless...in so many different ways.
This work offers so very much in so few pages. It is like reading two or three books simultaneously. Not only is the story absolutely captivating, but the facts, trivial and important, fly fast and furious. We receive a wonderful lesson in history as the author takes us to antebellum Louisiana, giving the reader glimpses in the lives of the rich sugarcane plantation owners, politicians, developers, Riverboat Captains, the poor working people, the horrid and unworkable institution of slavery, transportation of the time, attitudes, dress, diet and so much more. A history of New Orleans is served up which is a separate and fascinating study unto its own. Along with the history lesson, the reader receives lessons in river, ocean and weather dynamics along with a life and death story of an island. Behind this entire work though, the author has woven dire warnings; warnings that need to be heeded. Have we changed all that much since the mid 1800s?
Basically, this is the story of Isle Derniere, one of the various barrier islands off of the coast of Louisiana which on August 10, 1856 was hit and demolished and more or less completely whipped out by a hurricane. It is the story of the rich vacationers there and their slaves as they tried desperately to survive. Along with these unfortunate folk, we have a number of nearby ships which are suffering the same fate. Through the authors pen we are served a wonderful, vivid and delicious profile of many individuals; the good, the bad and the ugly. The reader must keep in mind that this is not in any sense of the word a novel. This is a true story which has been meticulously reconstructed by the author through detailed research. Fortunately for us, there were survivors of this disaster and much documentation and first hand accounts are available to which the author has had access. The author has perfectly captured the essence of the times.
Now we have here even extra bonuses! Abby Sallenger has a PhD in Marine Science from the University of Virginia and was the former chief scientist of the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for Coastal Geology. He is currently leading the USGS storm Impact research group. Sound pretty boring, huh? When I first open this book I must admit that my eyes did a bit of a roll and I let out a little moan of despair. Goodness was I wrong! No dry thesis here, no, no, no! No ramblings of a musty academic are to be found in these pages! This work is as much of a page turner as many a novel I have read! This guy, Sallenger, can write! He is also an obvious natural story teller. I can truthfully favorably compare his skills to that of David McCullough and Stephen Ambrose as a writer of popular history. It does not stop there though. While I am far from an expert in Marine Science, History of Louisiana or meteorology, I have, over the past 50 years, done a tremendous amount of reading in these areas and traveled through the geographical areas featured in this work, so when I say that this book is well researched, it is not an empty statement just to fill up space...this writer knows his stuff!
This work is a fascinating read and will give the reader much food for thought on many levels. The earth has been changing for millions of years and our coast lines change at a comparatively fast page. Will we learn from our past? Will we heed the warnings we are receiving via a rising sea level and shrinking ice cap? Personally, I am quite pessimistic in this area, but you need to read this one yourself and make your own mind up.
Bottom Line: A wonderful mixture of history, science and the human condition told by a very skillful writer and story teller.
I enthusiastically recommend that you put this book at the top of your "to read" list. The time you spend reading it will be well worth it!
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Past As Portent For The Future, May 25, 2009
This review is from: Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World (Hardcover)
In the summer of 1856 Isle Dernier was a fast developing resort area catering to the wealthy citizens of New Orleans and Louisiana who wanted relief from heat and high humidity and security from the threat of yellow fever epidemics. That Isle Dernier was a low lying coastal island with no protection from Gulf storms worried no one until August, when the wind began to blow and the surf started to rise higher and higher, finally sweeping most of the island's structures and their human inhabitants away.
The 1850s were a time of turmoil and growth in the United States, particularly in the area around New Orleans. The decade was also a time of great scientific advancement. Scientists, both professional and amateur, were just beginning to understand the process in which tropical storms formed and grew into hurricanes. Communication on land could be fast thanks to the recent invention of the telegraph, but the wires didn't yet reach beyond metropolitan areas and information from ships at sea was still subject to long delays. These handicaps contributed to Isle Dernier's inhabitants' lack of awareness of the danger they were in and to a long delay in getting assistance to the survivors after the storm had passed.
Its fortunate that several of the survivors were literate and inclined to tell their stories, as this allows an almost hourly account of what happened on the Isle. As in any disaster there were amazing tales of survival and heroism and some deplorable examples of cowardice and looting. But what I found most intriguing about Island In A Storm was the geological and climatological explanation for what happened on the Isle and elsewhere in Louisiana that August:the natural forces at work shaping and then scouring away coastlines, how man's efforts to curb these natural forces tends to exacerbate their effects, and how ignoring the evidence of past disasters only leads to greater peril. This is especially compelling in the afterword, in which Dr. Sallenger warns that rising sea levels in a warmer world will inevitably mean problems for those who build and rebuild on barrier islands and other low lying areas.
Dr. Abby Sallenger leads the US Geological Survey's Storm Impact research group. His background in geology and marine science equips him to handle this subject thoroughly and professionally, and his interest in history and ability to write well enable him to present the story of Isle Dernier in a manner that is always interesting, even to the general reader without a specialist background.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Well Written, June 23, 2009
This review is from: Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World (Hardcover)
The author does a great job of sustaining suspense while imparting fascinating information about the fragility of barrier islands. A remarkable read about the riches of the Mississippi River, the constantly shifting terrain between the river and the ocean, and the privileged members of society who escaped to their own little island and paid dearly for building their castles in the sand. Highly recommended.
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