Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938
R. A. Scotti
Little,Brown
Nonfiction, History
***
DESCRIPTION: In 1938 New England, the people had lived with autumn's storms for centuries. Hurricanes, however, were something even they were not prepared for, as tropical storms rarely turned that far north. In September of '38, a rogue monster defied the tracking efforts of America's primitive weather watching system, and the coast was caught unprepared in one of the worst storms on record. Towns already hit by the Great Depression were pounded by Nature's fury... and some were wiped away entirely. This book is an examination of the Great Hurricane of 1938, as told by survivors and news articles of the time.
REVIEW: Like The Perfect Storm (by another author), this is a story of Nature at its most brutal, and the people at its mercy. Also like The Perfect Storm, I thought that the back story grew tedious. I also thought the author tracked too many people through the storm, in a confusingly nonsequential manner. Still, the devastation comes through, in words and photos.
You might also enjoy:
Seabiscuit: An American Legend (Laura Hillenbrand, Nonfiction - A crooked-legged racehorse became the greatest news story of the American Depression of the 1930's)
The Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger, Nonfiction - The story of the tragic 1991 storm that pounded the American East Coast, killing many)
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