It has been some time since I have felt compelled to read a book straight through to the end, and then to require some time to reflect and recover. Such a gripping story so well told. Somehow it made me miss my hometown of Houston in spite of the horror of the experience of the 1900 storm. We always figured Galveston was home by extension. Now I want to go and walk through its streets even more so. ( )

The Galveston hurricane of 1900 wreaks havoc before your eyes through the memories of its survivors. John Edward Weems interviewed many survivors of this deadly hurricane before he penned this work many years ago. His narrative covers individual stories interwoven during the time-line of the approaching storm, its full-force assault on the island, and the storm's aftermath.

Daisy Thorne's story stands out. Just a few blocks from the beach, she lives with her mother; while she's enjoying the summer break from her role as schoolteacher, she prepares her trousseau for her upcoming wedding. As the storm approaches, neighbors come to their sturdier building to wait it out. The severity of the storm is frightening as they watch buildings around them disintegrate. Then their own walls gradually start to crumble, forcing all the building's survivors into one central room. By the end of the storm, 22 people had weathered the nightmare standing in what was left of Daisy's bedroom.

Daisy's fiance raced as fast as transportation could carry him from his home in Austin to try to find her and they were the first couple wed after the storm, walking down the muddy aisle of the dilapidated church in borrowed finery. A few days after the storm, Daisy wrote, “I feel that I have been given a marvelous blessing,” she observed, “to have been brought so close to the infinite and to see how small finite things are.”

Mr. Weems does a good job of setting the stage for the storm, addressing the weather observation methods of the day and the things learned from this hurricane. His technique of telling the individual stories, intermeshing them along during the hours of the disaster, made it very real and personal. The cold numbers were: first estimates – 1,000 dead, final numbers were never known – between 6,000 and 12,000, with 8,000 being the most cited figure, and all this from one city.

He also goes on to explain what measures were taken by Galveston to ensure this deadly outcome not be repeated – the seawall which you see there today, and a raising of the island topography itself, by pumping more sand atop it. It was a fascinating telling of a horrible disaster, and the resiliency of a people. ( )

Based upon first-hand accounts from previously unpublished sources, Weems has crafted a history of the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900 (estimates vary, although the death toll is believed to be 6,000). Weems tells the story of the approaching storm and the experiences of that fateful night from the perspective of two dozen survivors, weaving the lives of the individuals into the context of the booming city (of just over 37,000 in 1900). He takes the reader through the chronology of events using the words and thoughts of the participants, and includes an excellent map and several pictures. For such an emotional topic, even now one hundred years distant, the book is masterfully written--one cannot help but be pulled into their lives of the participants and feel their anguish at watching loved ones swept away into the waters forever. It will compel you to read the book in one sitting, to know what happens to these people and how the island city put life back together in the midst of such destruction. ( )

The weekend was September 9, 1900. The place was Galveston Texas. The event was a category five hurricane that made a direct hit on Galveston, took over six thousand lives, and wrecked what was the most populated and prosperous city in Texas. Written in 1957, the author interviews several survivors of the storm. You hear first hand accounts of what went on in their homes, what became of their families, and what they saw both during and after the storm. This book could easily be made into a movie. I was absolutely riveted. ( )