Awards

• Commended for Kirkus Prize (Nonfiction) 2020

Overview

With A Furious Sky, Eric Jay Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history. Dolin draws on a vast array of sources as he melds American history, as it is usually told, with the history of hurricanes, showing how these tempests frequently helped determine the nation's course. Hurricanes, it turns out, prevented Spain from expanding its holdings in North America beyond Florida in the late 1500s, and they also played a key role in shifting the tide of the American Revolution against the British in the final stages of the conflict. As he moves through the centuries, following the rise of the United States despite the chaos caused by hurricanes, Dolin traces the corresponding development of hurricane science, from important discoveries made by Benjamin Franklin to the breakthroughs spurred by the necessities of World War II and the Cold War.

Full Product Details

9781665116442

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Reviews

Deftly weaving together tales of tragedy, heroism, and scientific progress from colonial times until the present. -- Library Journal Dolin begins with the first European settlers to encounter these monstrous storms, which sweep from Africa across the Atlantic, and he proceeds in a chronicle of destruction and gradual understanding. -- New York Times Book Review Dolin, who has a doctorate in environmental policy, offers an authoritative and lively history of hurricanes...A sweeping, absorbing history of nature's power. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) More than a meteorological history, it is a remarkably human story of people struggling with nature at its fiercest and the myriad ways hurricanes have affected the course of human events.. -- Booklist (starred review) This is a compelling fact- and anecdote-filled story...[and] joins that short list of books that are both must-reads and armchair page-turners. -- Tom Clavin, New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Eric Jay Dolin is the author of several books of history, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which was chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe. It also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for US Maritime History. He is a graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his PhD in environmental policy. Bob Souer is a full-time professional storyteller, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. He has narrated broadcast and nonbroadcast projects for corporations and ministries across North America. His voice has been heard on PBS, the History Channel, the Military Channel, and many other networks. He has also narrated radio and television programs for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, D. James Kennedy Ministries, SIM, and Compassion International.

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