{"product_id":"levine-mark-monster-tornado-9780091900663","title":"Monster Tornado","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. \n\u003cbr\u003e\nAmidst 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.\n\u003cbr\u003e\nMonster 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.","brand":"Ebury Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53816422662486,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/levine-mark-monster-tornado-9780091900663","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}