| Texas Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival Contributor(s): Cox, Mike (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0762736755 ISBN-13: 9780762736751 Publisher: Globe Pequot Press OUR PRICE: $12.56 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2006 Annotation: It's only human to be fascinated by disasters--and uplifted by reports of survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances. Mike Cox takes you back to Texas's most catastrophic events, vividly re-creating the moments that changed the Lone Star State forever. The nineteen true stories in Texas Disasters are a chilling reminder to expect the unexpected and to respect the powerful, often deadly forces of nature. Experience the drama of: A Spanish fleet stranded off the coast of South Padre Island in 1554 The 1867 Yellow Fever epidemic, so widespread some towns never recovered The Galveston hurricane of 1900, the nation's worst until Katrina in 2005 A1912 railroad boiler disaster, the worst in U.S. history The SS Marine Sulphur Queen's mysterious disappearance in 1963 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv) - Social Science | Disasters & Disaster Relief - History | United States - State & Local - Southwest (az, Nm, Ok, Tx) |
| Dewey: 976.4 |
| LCCN: 2006011671 |
| Series: Disasters (Insiders' Guide) |
| Physical Information: 0.65" H x 6.06" W x 9.04" (0.95 lbs) 264 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Mid-South - Cultural Region - South - Geographic Orientation - Texas |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The enormity of Texas's many major disasters are an appropriate match for the state's large size. This is an area of the country where tornadoes are a frequent threat, but in addition to the many violent twisters, residents have experienced fires, floods, drought, blizzards, shipwrecks, and other devastating events, including a yellow fever epidemic in 1867, which earned that year the grim moniker "The Year of Death." Twenty dramatic true stories are retold in this well-researched collection, including: >The deadly quarter-mile-wide tornado that roared through the town of Goliad in 1902, killing 114 people, injuring 230, and demolishing 150 structures. >A 1937 natural gas explosion at a school in New London, which blew the whole building into the air and killed 298 students and teachers. >A 15-foot wall of water that in 1965 swept down the canyon in the West Texas railroad town of Sanderson, killing whole families but uniting the racially divided town in rescue efforts. >The 1947 explosion of the SS Grandcamp, a French vessel docked in Texas City and laden with ammonium nitrate, which had caught fire and later ignited another ship carrying the same cargo. The two blasts killed 576 people, injured thousands more, and jarred residents of Houston 40 miles to the north. |