Not enough research, too many characters

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	• A Weekend in September John Edward Weems Texas A&M University Press, 1989 average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Not enough research, too many characters

We just spent a week in Galveston and I wanted to learn more about the famous storm. I purchased this book on the advice of a local seller.

What makes this book good is also what makes it difficult to follow. Weems tries to get many points of view in the story to give the reader a broad perspective of the events. However, so many different people and families are introduced, it becomes distracting to the story. There's an attempt to focus on a handful of characters and Weems does circle back around at the end of the story to close their tales, but it doesn't seem focused enough for me.

That said, the fact that Weems includes all these stories and he takes the storm in 2-hour increments really gives the reader a sense of both the magnitude of the storm and the incredible length of the night these poor people were forced to endure. He uses the tactic of..."while this was happening here, at the same time across town, this was occurring." It serves to keep the story intense and again to show how many people were affected.

The story was well written; it felt more like a novel instead of a historical recollection. However,I was really disappointed in the ending. Nearly 150 pages were spent on the storm and the days following. After that, he seems to run out of steam. Weems raced through the personal tragedies and how the people themselves regained their homes. Very little is given about the temporary housing and food, diseases that may or may not have occured. What happened to the economy? Less than 15 pages were spent on rebuilding the island. I would have liked to see him explore more of what we are witnessing today with the rebuilding of New Orleans, such as the political reactions to the expenses necessary for rebuilding. It took nearly 12 years to rebuild - surely somebody disagreed with the changes.

Overall, not a bad book, but very focused on the storm itself and in trying to report it through the lives of those who lived through it.

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You will tremble as you read

It's odd that no titantic movie has ever been made about the greatest natural disaster to ever occur in the United States. Kind of like East Texas, the Big Thicket, and the swamps, the Galveston disaster somehow didn't become part of the Texas myth. Yet, what happened was more devastating than the Chicago fire, San Fransico earthquake, and the Andrea Doria.

Having lost a childhood home to a hurricane on the Texas coast and seeing, with my own eyes, the result of a true 'catagory-5 hurricane,' (the 1900 storm is not rated as a catagory 5), this book terrifies me and makes me feel fortunate at the same time.

My sister and I have studied the maps and explored Galveston Island again and again. We have located where houses or businesses once stood and marvel at the houses (especially on Broadway) that withstood the storm. We stand at the sites and try to imagine what it was like before, during, and after. But nothing we, or anyone now, do can come close to understanding the terror of what happened that night. The Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay met and covered the island. There was no warning.

And those who live on the Eastern coast know, there is to this day, no true warning. One of the few things that make weather reports different now from then, is a person inside a tv set equipped with a pointer and big swirling map broadcasting a warning about a hurricane that may or may not hit New Orleans, Port Aransas or Canada.

It's not the weather reporters' fault. It is the fault of the United States government for underfunding the weather bureau and weather research. It's so much easier to blame the people stupid enough to live on the coast in the first place. Just like it's easy to blame the people dumb enough to live in California on a fault; those who live on or near mountains; those who live in fire-prone areas with wind and trees; those who live in flood zones in the desert when it rains, etc.

Somehow, out of all the horrors described in this book, the image that sticks most in my mind is the description of the two terrified women at Morgan's Point seeing a light nearing their house. They are filled suddenly with hope of rescue, until they see the light pass them by and head on downstream, and realize it's a lantern atop a table inside a house that belongs to a neighbor.

For years Galveston did everything it could to wipe out the memory of what had happened there. Now the 1900 hurricane is a huge tourist draw.

All of the natural barriers that saved the place where I now live have been dredged up for its' shell the past 30 years. To this day, the Army Corp of Engineers continues to destroy Galveston Bay in an effort to give itself a reason to exist. In the end, the Corp of Engineers and our own government through its weakening enviromental policies, have destroyed more here than that weekend storm in 1900.

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Old but not outdated

I read this on the plane to Louisianna for a visit after Katrina and Rita and then loaned it to friends who live in Baton Rouge. I loved "Isaac"s Storm" and have read it twice but this is a worthy companion to it. Although written 50 years ago, it has more personal detail and interviews with survivors while the scientific data is, of course, less accurate than "Isaac's Storm."
There are many excellent books about hurricanes available now - try "Sudden Sea" and "Storm of the Century" about Florida hurricanes - and, if our weather experts are to be believed - we are heading into a period of extreme hurricane weather right now. These books are reminders of what has happened and what can happen again. I highly recommend them all.

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First Hand Accounts

This incredible book was written about the Great Storm of 1900, still the largest natural disaster in American History. It was written in 1957, while survivors were still alive, which gives great emotion to the narrative.

This book is one of my favorites.

Very Informative

This book was so interesting I read it in one day. The map at the beginning of the book helps to keep all of the people and their respective houses in perspective. It is very informative and not depicted with horrific details. One of the best books written on this subject.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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