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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Great Hurricane: 1938

The Great Hurricane: 1938

1 rating: 3.0

2005 non-fiction book by Cherie Burns

From Publishers Weekly Traveling at the unheard of speed of 60 mph and with a span of 1,000 miles, the Great Hurricane of 1938 ravaged Long Island and coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island, killing 700 and literally wiping some communities … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Nonfiction, Environment, Natural Disasters, Hurricanes, Outdoors And Nature

Author: Cherie Burns

Genre: Nonfiction

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

Date Published: July 10, 2005

1 review about The Great Hurricane: 1938

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Experience the horror of a category 5 hurricane that no one was expecting

Dec 2, 2008

by drifter51

Rating:

If you happened to live on eastern Long Island or along the Southern New England coast there seemed to be nothing remarkable about the weather when you arose on September 21, 1938. The forecast did call for some heavy rain later on in the afternoon but there was absolutely no reason to believe that anything out of the ordinary was in store for you that day. What these folks had no way of knowing of course was that a powerful hurricane with winds of up to 160 miles per hour was churning up the eastern coast at a phenomenal 60 miles per hour! By the end of this fateful day many would lose their lives, hundreds more would be injured and the landscape of these areas would be changed forever. In "Great Hurricane: 1938" Cherie Burns transports her readers back to that tragic day and gives them a glimpse of just what is was like to live through such a tumultuous event.
In putting together "Great Hurricane: 1938" Cherie Burns scoured newspaper accounts and interviewed survivors. As a result, we experience the horrors of this storm through the eyes of several different families. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to see family members, neighbors and friends washed away in the fury of this storm. Likewise, the survivors speak of the terror they felt and of the courage they had to muster simply trying to survive during these 3 or 4 hours. Like the old "Cinerama" movie technology of the 1960's, Cherie Burns has the uncanny ability to put you the reader into the picture. There are stories in this book that I will simply never forget.
Being from Rhode Island I have heard about the 1938 Hurricane since I was a kid. I have seen documentaries on the subject, talked to survivors and read Rhode Island native R.A. Storti's splendid "Sudden Sea" which is another marvelous account of this disaster. "Great Hurricane: 1938" is a significant addition to the historical record of this legendary storm.
There was very little to smile about in the aftermath of the Great Hurricane. However, I must make mention of a headline that appeared in the Providence Evening Bulletin a couple of weeks after the storm. During the height of the hurricane Downtown Providence was inundated with 18 feet of water. It took about three weeks of cleanup before the city was ready to reopen for business. In a story about the ramifications of the downtown area being closed the Evening Bulletin noted that most beauty shops had still not reopened. The headline read "WOMEN'S FACES REVERTING TO STATUS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY NATURE". I laughed out loud at that one. I think you will find that "Great Hurricane: 1938 is a well written, informative and entertaining book. Recommended.

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