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Monster Tornado

By Mark Levine

Monster Tornado

By Mark Levine

0 - Default Title
Description
It was April 3 1974 and the United States was in turmoil. Crime was soaring unemployment and inflation were out of control the Vietnam War had just come to a demoralising end and the soon-to-be-disgraced President Nixon was on his way out of office. Then over a sixteen-hour period nature stepped forward with its own display of mayhem as an unprecedented outbreak of 148 tornadoes descended on the country. The destruction wrought was horrifying - hundreds killed thousands of homes demolished a billion dollars in losses sustained.
Amidst this chaos acclaimed journalist Mark Levine follows the devastating path of a twin set of F5s - the rarest and most deadly category of tornado and their impact on a rich cast of intertwined characters. Ordinary lives are transformed in one bewildering terrifying instant: a pair of teenage lovers caught while driving on a dark country road; a Vietnam veteran trapped at home with a newborn baby; a sheriff caught in the line of fire twice in rapid succession; a black preacher with a past of dire hardship struggling to protect his family. Other figures enter the story from the broader cultural scene: Hank Aaron on his way to challenging baseball's home run record amid racist death threats; Patty Hearst whose image as kidnapping victim is undergoing a radical shift; Richard Nixon intent on using the storms for his political advantage; and a memorably eccentric scientist known as Mr Tornado who regards the 'Superoutbreak' as the apotheosis of his scholarly life.
Monster Tornado provides a vivid and remarkable portrait of a unique point in American history - a time of incredible and unsettling convergence where weather and people collided and the fortunes of a series of characters obscure and famous would change forever.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
322
Release Date:
2008-07-03
Publication Date:
2008-07-03
Publisher:
Ebury Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
0091900662
ISBN13:
9780091900663
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Minimum Reading Age:
0
Weight:
376 g
Height:
126 cm
Width:
198 cm
Thickness:
19 cm
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