The Storm Of The Century

 A good friend of mine (I think of her as my warm blanket friend because she is as comforting as a warm blanket) lent me her book. She said I have to give it back because it is an autographed copy. I forgot to ask her when and where she met Al Roker. The book is called The Storm Of The Century. Al details the 1900 hurricane that decimated Galveston, Texas and killed between 1500 and 1800 people. The book comes in 3 parts, before, during, and after the storm. Al got most of his information from letters, diaries, books, and other paper materials in Texas. Aa a meteorologist he knows hurricanes. One of the people he mentions often is Isaac Cline who worked for the federal government as a meteorologist along with his brother.    Both brothers lived together along with Isaac's wife and five children. Isaac's wife and newborn were both frail and ill at the time the storm hit. When their house started to topple over in the hurricane both brothers grabbed two children and jumped out of the window. They managed to survive but Isaac's wife and newborn died. They were later found under their house. Besides the weather and the people the book delves into the racism of the time. Black people were forced to do the smelly work, the dirty work, and the most disgusting work while the whites and Latino's did the preferred jobs.  Racism is part of the reason Isaac Cline got not warning that the hurricane was headed his way. Jesuit priests in Cuba had telegraphed the warning to the federal head meteorologist in Washington, D.C. Because that guy was racist about Cubans, he refused to believe them. Although it took me a chapter or two to get accustomed to Al's writing style, I did enjoy his book.