Product Description

The most powerful hurricane in United States history assaulted the Florida Keys in 1935, the darkest year of the Great Depression. With winds surpassing 200 miles an hour and tidal storm surges topping 20 feet, the "Storm of the Century" killed more than 400 people in a two-day span, devastating in particular a community of federally sponsored construction workers building a highway in the Florida Keys - and kicking up a far-reaching political storm of acrimony and controversy in its wake. Told from the alternating viewpoints of storm survivors, federal Works Project Administration employees, government officials, and local business owners, Storm of the Century is an ambitious work of investigative journalism and historical research, panoramic in scope and haunting in its emotional immediacy. Featuring previously undisclosed documents from the original government investigation, noted journalist Willie Drye's vivid account of the storm's rampage is accompanied by fascinating revelations about how federal administrators ignored early hurricane warnings - and why the ensuing disaster very nearly cost Franklin Delano Roosevelt the election of 1936. Drye's bracing narrative takes us back to the Florida Keys of the 1930s and delivers the first comprehensive explanation of how the economic crises of the Depression and the cruel mandates of political expediency collided full-force with the might of the hurricane itself and ultimately exploded into a national tragedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1824849 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 8.90" h x .90" w x 5.90" l, 1.03 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 326 pages

From Publishers Weekly
On Labor Day in 1935, a hurricane that produced the record low barometric pressure reading of 26.35 inches hit Florida's upper Keys, destroying virtually everything in its path. In his meticulously researched work, Drye gives a vivid, detailed account of the storm's approach and impact when it made landfall. Drye was drawn to the story of the unnamed hurricane not only because of its intensity, but also because it killed nearly 260 World War I veterans who were building a highway as part of a federal construction program. Living in flimsy huts built in low-lying areas, the veterans' only chance to survive the storm was evacuation, a move officials were too slow to order. The first two-thirds of the book, which includes a terrific description of the Keys around the turn of the century (when Key West was Florida's largest city), is especially gripping, punctuated with first-hand survivor accounts of the storm's fury. Responsibility for the deaths of the veterans became a political football, and the blatantly partisan investigation that ensued will have a timeless resonance for followers of American politics. But Drye overreaches when he suggests that full disclosure about the disaster could have caused problems for FDR's reelection bid; the author is on far safer ground as a weather historian than as a political commentator. (Sept.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which ravaged the Florida Keys, was the most devastating hurricane to ever hit the U.S. In the Keys at the time were hundreds of World War I veterans, sent to build bridges as part of Roosevelt's New Deal program to provide government-funded work for those left destitute by the Depression. The makeshift work camps were totally destroyed by the winds and storm surge, killing hundreds of workers who, through miscommunication or carelessness, were not evacuated by the federal agencies overseeing the work programs. With extensive depth, Drye covers the political fallout afterwards and the inquiries into the way the Roosevelt administration handled the crisis. Impressively, this account does not take the easy stance of vilifying those in charge but instead portrays them as all-too-human and naive about a hurricane's destructive potential. Drye tells many of the victims' and survivors' stories in painful detail, describing tragedy and danger scarcely imaginable. A powerful book that will leave a lasting impression on every reader. Gavin Quinn
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