As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

R. A. Scotti

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 Hardcover – September 3, 2003

by R.A. Scotti (Author)

316 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$7.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$8.00

$26.95

$1.25

Paperback

"Please retry"

$13.96

$12.58

$1.69

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$35.00

$22.75

—

Draws on period newspaper accounts, eyewitness testimony, and archival footage to recount the Great Hurricane of 1938, which left a trail of death and destruction across seven states and obliterated entire communities and families.

Print length

277 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown
Publication date

September 3, 2003
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0316739111
ISBN-13

978-0316739115
See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Cherie Burns
206
Paperback
50 offers from $2.23
Stephen Long
34
Paperback
$16.00
+ $35.48 shipping
Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).
Willie Drye
85
Paperback
$15.99
+ $35.48 shipping
In Stock.
Everett S. Allen
29
Paperback
33 offers from $1.95
Erik Larson
3,913
Paperback
$13.39
FREE Shipping by Amazon
In stock soon.
Joseph P. Soares
20
Paperback
$21.99
+ $35.48 shipping
Only 7 left in stock - order soon.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Cherie Burns
206
Hardcover
$38.66
FREE Shipping by Amazon
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Stephen Long
34
Hardcover
$30.00
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Aug 24
FREE Shipping by Amazon
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Erik Larson
3,913
Paperback
$13.39
FREE Shipping by Amazon
In stock soon.
Cherie Burns
206
Paperback
50 offers from $2.23
Eric Jay Dolin
324
Hardcover
$14.39
+ $35.48 shipping
In Stock.

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business: Make the most of your Amazon Business account with exclusive tools and savings. Login now

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former journalist and mystery novelist Scotti successfully applies her skills in both genres to this detailed retelling of the 1938 hurricane that ripped across seven Northeastern states and killed 682 people, "the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history-worse than the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, or any Mississippi flood." Although the enormity of the destruction has been written about before, Scotti focuses on "a few experiences that seem representative of many more" through interviews with hurricane survivors, their families and friends, as well as previously published recollections by survivors, including the late Katharine Hepburn. Scotti's detailed look at the general extent of the hurricane's destruction adds poignancy to individual stories, such as those of Joseph Matoes, who sees his children swept away from their school bus as they are battered by huge waves; Lillian Tetlow and Jack Kinney, two sweethearts who survive a storm that destroys Napatree, R.I., and who later marry; and Charles Pierce, a "green and unsure" junior forecaster for a woefully underprepared U.S. Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) who stands against his experienced superiors as the only forecaster to recognize the danger of the hurricane. Scotti also skillfully presents the details of a hurricane, although she reminds us that "after decades of study and with all the technological tools of the trade... we still cannot predict a hurricane more than twenty-four hours in advance."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

R. A. Scotti, a former journalist at the Providence Journal, is the author of numerous thrillers and novels of international espionage. She lives in New York City. This is her second work of nonfiction.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown; 1st edition (September 3, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316739111
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316739115
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #403,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #269 in Atmospheric Sciences (Books)
- #307 in Natural Disasters (Books)
- #370 in Weather (Books)

Customer Reviews:
316 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload video

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		13%
3 star		8%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Marsha M.

VERY well done!

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

I've grown up hearing stories about the Hurricane of '38. My mother and her 8 brothers and sisters were born in Westerly, RI and I've heard many of their personal stories about the hurricane and the people in the area. My grandparents both worked in Moore's Mills and we often drive past the Moore family home. My aunts and uncles all knew the Moore Children. I've walked Napatree Point many times, past the existing Fort and have spent countless hours on the beaches of Misquamicuit. My uncle owns a summer home in Stonington Village and my family has spent a lot of time visiting downtown Mystic. This book revealed many details, new to me. I found it rather scary and even experienced some bad dreams while reading the book.
Considering how many people in power are ignoring the perils of climate change, I can only wonder when the NEXT deadly hurricane will devastate our eastern shores?

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

El Kabong

Great fun but watch out for factual oopsies!

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

On September 21, 1938, southern New England prepared for a glorious late-summer day. Summer had been hot, muggy and stormy, but this day promised a wonderful respite of lowered humidity, brilliant sun and flat sea. Until, that is, a freak Category 5 hurricane (poorly forecast and under-reported) that was supposed to head harmlessly out to sea after missing Florida instead took a fast track up the Atlantic coast, savaged Central Long Island and barreled right into Narragansett Bay, whipping away scores of summer homes, beach clubs, restaurants and other aspects of the leisurely life, and leaving several hundred Rhode Islanders dead or missing. As late as mid-afternoon the glorious day was still in full swing; but by suppertime any pretense of normality or historical permanence had been swept away. The pleasure of a well-heeled summer life was "gone with the wind" -- and water that wound up a dozen miles and more inland, flattening everything in its course.

The late R.A. Scotti has given us a very enlightening and fast-paced account of what happened that day, to numerous breakdowns in government forecasting and local news media to what families were forced to improvise to keep themselves, their servants and children out of the maelstrom and fighting for life. She wrote this book vividly and well, with lovely touches like white-capped bay water that was "foamy as ale poured out too fast.” The large cast takes in all kinds of folks threatened by the hurricane (which, in that era, did not yet bear names) -- from actress Katherine Hepburn, who got her first hole-in-one playing golf under the influence of a freshening wind; to affluent summer vacationers ready to return to the Eastern cities, to local farmers and recent immigrants and schoolkids.

On the other hand, I stumbled across a couple of easily correctible mistakes that should never have seen the final edition. There never was a car called the "Cadillac La Salle" -- Cadillac and La Salle were two luxury car lines out of General Motors; La Salle ceased production in 1940 while Cadillac, of course, is still with us. It is likely that the affluent family mentioned owned a La Salle automobile. Also, the author mentions use of nuclear devices to quell hurricanes -- but it never happened. It was a bad idea ca. 1960 when a government program called "Project Plowshares" (use of atomic energy for peace) floated such thinking but fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.

I cannot personally take author Scotti to task (she died in 2010), but bloopers like that -- and you'll see other misstatements of fact unearthed by other reviewers here -- took some of the joy out of this engagingly written account. The author had just as much use of the Internet as I did and getting to the truth of these errors took only a few minutes. Hence four stars, not five.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nawn

Fascinating

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

I had never heard of this book until a family member recommended it. I live in southeastern Massachusetts and I recall my mom and dad talking about the hurricane of 1938. This book was absolutely fascinating and I stayed up late at night reading it. This is a great book detailing a sad and disastrous event in weather annals.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Randy Brown

Reads like a thriller

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

I liked the way the author created a sense of the horror by providing some details about some specific people affected. Seemed almost like was happening in real time. And the differences In how people reacted. Shows how the storm brought out the best and worst in people. I also liked the section about the aftermath and finger pointing. Would have been nice to hear whAt changes of those recommended were actually adopted. Didn’t like the jumping back and forth among northern and southern areas affected and the time frames. Made it harder to follow. Would have liked more info on wave heights and wind velocities.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Savvy Shopper

This was a gift.

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

After reading this wonderful piece of literature ~ a real page turner, I gave this to my daughter and son-in-law for Christmas since they live in Gloucester, MA. My daughter told me they thoroughly enjoyed it, and she has lent it to several friends in the area. They had no concept of the power and damage of this hurricane along the coast of Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Ron Gunzburger

Underwhelming ... and Kindle edition riddled with typos every page

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book came out in 2008, yet eight years later (2016) nobody has ever bothered to fix the glaring typos on every page of the Kindle edition. Every, I mean EVERY, set of hyphen-linked words end with a close parenthesis. Examples "... but twenty-four) hours later..." "... a happy-go)-lucky boy ..." You can find examples of this every page, even in some chapter headers.

As for the content, I found the writing cloying (so forced and overly descriptive as to make passages seem wildly embellished as to feelings, smells, colors, etc). Simply stated, Isaac's Storm is a much better written, more gripping hurricane book.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: sea beans

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 Hardcover – September 3, 2003

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Special offers and product promotions