Avalanches, Hurricanes and Blizzards: Storms that changed history

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Laura Lee - Blame it on the Rain: How the Weather has Changed History
(551.609 Le) Lee argues that adapting, or rather not adapting, to the weather has changed the outcome of war from ancient times to present day. Short essays are gathered in this easy-to-read book that sets out to prove that we have less control over events than we’d like to think.

Brian M. Fagan - Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Niņo and the Fate of Civilizations
(551.6 Fa) Before 1997 only meteorologists, fishermen and weather buffs knew about the force of an El Niño. Tiny temperature fluctuations in the Pacific, however, can create weather systems powerful enough to wreck havoc in everyday lives. In 1997 the most powerful El Niño caused freezes in Europe, blizzards and floods in North America and deadly droughts in the South Pacific. Think a weather system doesn’t change history? Think again.

Douglas Brinkley - The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
(976.335 Br) Brinkley, a Tulane professor, recounts the circumstances surrounding both the ill planning and botched rescue efforts of Hurricane Katrina. Disaster is tempered with stories of personal heroism and survival.

Erik Larson - Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
(976.413 La) Weather forecasting and its implications on global relations change forever after the 1900 hurricane that levels the town and kills 6,000 in Galveston.

David G. McCullough - The Johnstown Flood
(974.877 Ma) Heavy rainfall and the collapse of a dam ravaged Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889. Master historian McCullough adeptly combines the stories of the town, the wealthy men who owned the dam, and the forces of nature into a seamless whole. The rescue effort was handled for the first time by the Red Cross, led by Clara Barton.

Sebastian Junger - The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men against the Sea
(974.45 Ju) A hurricane off Bermuda, a cold front coming down from the Canadian Shield, and a storm brewing over the Great Lakes proves too much for the fishing boat, Andrea Gale, and her crew in the fall of 1991.

John M. Barry - Rising Tide: the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
(977.03 Ba) The spring of 1927 brought a fury on the Mississippi valley unlike any before or since. The massive flood not only damaged the land, but its effects were felt on race relations, government and society, and changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta irrevocably.

Nancy Mathis - Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado
(551.553 Mat) In May of 1999 a series of 71 tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma and included a mile-wide F5 tornado complete with the fastest wind speeds ever recorded on the surface of the earth. Mathis, a native Sooner, provides an insiders guide into tornadoes and their impact both regionally and widespread.

Gary Krist - The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche
(979.777 Kri) A massive snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains traps two trains. The story might have ended there, but the ensuing rain that follows creates perfect conditions for an avalanche that kills 96 and destroys the golden age of train travel.

Timothy Egan - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
(978.032 Ega) On April 14, 1935, the biggest dust storm on record descended over five states, from the Dakotas to Amarillo, Texas. While magnified by meteorological impacts, these “black blizzards” were man-made.

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