Publication
New York : HarperCollins, c2004.
Collection
Call number
Non-Fiction L
Physical description
ix, 307 p.; 24 cm
Status
Available
Call number
Description
History. Nature. Nonfiction. HTML: "David Laskin deploys historical fact of the finest grain to tell the story of a monstrous blizzard that caught the settlers of the Great Plains utterly by surprise. . . . This is a book best read with a fire roaring in the hearth and a blanket and box of tissues near at hand." � Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City "Heartbreaking. . . . This account of the 1888 blizzard reads like a thriller." � Entertainment Weekly The gripping true story of an epic prairie snowstorm that killed hundreds of newly arrived settlers and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier. January 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal snow and hurricane-force winds. Temperatures plunged as an unprecedented cold front ripped through the center of the continent. By the next morning, some five hundred people lay dead on the drifted prairie, many of them children who had perished on their way home from country schools. In a few terrifying hours, the hopes of the pioneers had been blasted by the bitter realities of their harsh environment. Recent immigrants from Germany, Norway, Denmark, and the Ukraine learned that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled. With the storm as its dramatic, heartbreaking focal point, The Children's Blizzard captures this pivotal moment in American history by tracing the stories of five families who were forever changed that day. David Laskin has produced a masterful portrait of a tragic crucible in the settlement of the American heartland. The P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more..… (more)
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
"Chance is always a silent partner in disaster. Bad luck, bad timing, the wrong choice at a crucial moment, and the door is inexorably shut and barred. The tragedy of the Jan. 12 blizzard was that the bad timing extended across a region and cut through the shared experiences of an entire
David Laskin goes on to show exactly what he means by that statement as he explains the failures on the part of the US Army and their Signal Corps, who were charged with forecasting the weather, particularly cold waves; the teachers, who released their students to walk home, sometimes miles away, when the better option would have been to hunker down in the school house; and the Eastern and Northern European immigrants themselves, who settled in the Great Plains without realizing how very hard life in this location would be.
Thoroughly researched, this heartbreaking book is full of vignettes describing the immigrant families and how the blizzard effected them. Sadly, on that January 1888 day,that dawned warmer than in months, children left behind their heavy coats and headed off to school. But by mid-day, as the temperature plummeted, the blizzard set in and those same children tried to get home across the frozen prairie. What a monumental task when it was impossible to see your hand in front of your face and in a matter of minutes your eyelids were frozen shut.
Laskin gave me a new appreciation for the hardships that are part and parcel of life on the prairie, as well as specific information about this deadly day in our history. Highly recommended.
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population." (Page 2)David Laskin goes on to show exactly what he means by that statement as he explains the failures on the part of the US Army and their Signal Corps, who were charged with forecasting the weather, particularly cold waves; the teachers, who released their students to walk home, sometimes miles away, when the better option would have been to hunker down in the school house; and the Eastern and Northern European immigrants themselves, who settled in the Great Plains without realizing how very hard life in this location would be.
Thoroughly researched, this heartbreaking book is full of vignettes describing the immigrant families and how the blizzard effected them. Sadly, on that January 1888 day,that dawned warmer than in months, children left behind their heavy coats and headed off to school. But by mid-day, as the temperature plummeted, the blizzard set in and those same children tried to get home across the frozen prairie. What a monumental task when it was impossible to see your hand in front of your face and in a matter of minutes your eyelids were frozen shut.
Laskin gave me a new appreciation for the hardships that are part and parcel of life on the prairie, as well as specific information about this deadly day in our history. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin is a fascinating book about a powerful, freak blizzard that occurred in the upper Midwest of America on January 12, 1888. I found this an extremely moving, well researched book that caught and held my attention from cover to cover.
The author follows a few
Details on the scientific background of weather forecasting is given in simple terms which I found readable and helped to move the story forward. I was surprised at the knowledge that they did have in the 1880’s, but with a storm that approached so rapidly and was so severe, there really appeared to be little the Weather Bureau could do. Of course, that didn’t appear to stop a certain amount of fact spinning in the days immediately after this tragedy.
An interesting book that once more gives proof that nature should always be respected and when dealing with weather, it’s better to err on the side of caution.
The author follows a few
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families that settled in this area that encompassed the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. Giving us the history and background of these families made what they endured through this blizzard all the more touching. Striking quickly and deadly, the blizzard became known as the Children’s Blizzard as so many school children were caught up in it. Either being stranded at school with their teachers or being sent out to find their way home. What happened to these children is both heart rending and, at times, miraculous.Details on the scientific background of weather forecasting is given in simple terms which I found readable and helped to move the story forward. I was surprised at the knowledge that they did have in the 1880’s, but with a storm that approached so rapidly and was so severe, there really appeared to be little the Weather Bureau could do. Of course, that didn’t appear to stop a certain amount of fact spinning in the days immediately after this tragedy.
An interesting book that once more gives proof that nature should always be respected and when dealing with weather, it’s better to err on the side of caution.
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LibraryThing member cmbohn
Themes: weather, adversity, family, faith, science
Setting: January 1888, Dakota territory, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska
January on the prairie is never exactly balmy. The weather had been very cold all month. Then it warmed up for a while - not a lot, but enough that people seized the chance to get
Weathermen today love to talk about the "warm before the storm," and this was a classic example. The storm hit with incredible power, bringing punishing winds and very fine, stinging snow that covered everything outside in minutes. Those folks caught away from home were in big trouble. And many of them were the school children.
Laskin seems to have done his research on this one. The stories of the children were amazing and often heartbreaking. That part was very good. But what I didn't enjoy as much was the story of the Signal Corps and the effort place blame for the number of deaths caused by the storm. It was a blizzard. The blizzard was to blame.
Seriously, it's hard to see how things could have ended any differently. It was 1888. There were no satellite weather imaging thingies. There wasn't even reliable radio. The weather stations themselves weren't even equipped with telegraph lines liking them up to each other. And if there were, how were they supposed to broadcast their weather forecasts? Forecasting then was even more a matter of absolute luck and guesswork. But there was no way to make them public anyway. They had some sort of flags and alerts they issued, I wasn't quite clear on that, but no one in the little prairie towns could have known about them. It wasn't like they put them in the newspaper or on the radio.
I felt that this technical part took too much focus away from the part that I really found good, which was about the storm itself and how people managed to survive or didn't. This other bit about the science of it all was just a distraction. I wound up skipping most of that. Still, it was a good book and I would recommend it. It's just that compared to The Worst Hard Time, I knew that it could have been much better. 3.5 stars
Setting: January 1888, Dakota territory, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska
January on the prairie is never exactly balmy. The weather had been very cold all month. Then it warmed up for a while - not a lot, but enough that people seized the chance to get
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outside and tend to a few neglected chores, repairing the roof, feeding the livestock, bringing in more fuel for the fire, and sending the kids to school. All of which put them into danger.Weathermen today love to talk about the "warm before the storm," and this was a classic example. The storm hit with incredible power, bringing punishing winds and very fine, stinging snow that covered everything outside in minutes. Those folks caught away from home were in big trouble. And many of them were the school children.
Laskin seems to have done his research on this one. The stories of the children were amazing and often heartbreaking. That part was very good. But what I didn't enjoy as much was the story of the Signal Corps and the effort place blame for the number of deaths caused by the storm. It was a blizzard. The blizzard was to blame.
Seriously, it's hard to see how things could have ended any differently. It was 1888. There were no satellite weather imaging thingies. There wasn't even reliable radio. The weather stations themselves weren't even equipped with telegraph lines liking them up to each other. And if there were, how were they supposed to broadcast their weather forecasts? Forecasting then was even more a matter of absolute luck and guesswork. But there was no way to make them public anyway. They had some sort of flags and alerts they issued, I wasn't quite clear on that, but no one in the little prairie towns could have known about them. It wasn't like they put them in the newspaper or on the radio.
I felt that this technical part took too much focus away from the part that I really found good, which was about the storm itself and how people managed to survive or didn't. This other bit about the science of it all was just a distraction. I wound up skipping most of that. Still, it was a good book and I would recommend it. It's just that compared to The Worst Hard Time, I knew that it could have been much better. 3.5 stars
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
In January of 1888, a terrible blizzard, which came to be known as the "Schoolchildren’s Blizzard" blew in across the Nebraska & Dakota Territory prairie. It was so-called because the deaths from the blizzard were largely of children who left school because of the bad weather coming. Sadly, they
Using a wide variety of sources, Laskin has put together this account of that fateful day, but the book is much more than just a retelling of the event. He also details other immigrants' experiences such as tough crossings, and the often difficult life once they reached the Dakota territory. Laskin also discusses the state of weather forecasting at the time, and asks some pretty pointed questions about the issue of fault during the course of a natural disaster. I think a lot of people would also agree that the book is a definite statement on the power of nature and the horror it can inflict when people are unprepared (not that people can always be prepared for natural disasters).
I'd definitely recommend this to people who like history in focused, short bursts (like this book or along the lines of something like Isaac's Storm) rather than out of texts. The only part where it even felt a bit boggy was the discussion on the history of weather forecasting, but that didn't really detract from my reading. If you're also interested in life on the plains, this is a good one to read as well. Very well written -- I couldn't stop reading it once I started.
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left "at the moment when the wind shifted and the sky exploded (2)." Using a wide variety of sources, Laskin has put together this account of that fateful day, but the book is much more than just a retelling of the event. He also details other immigrants' experiences such as tough crossings, and the often difficult life once they reached the Dakota territory. Laskin also discusses the state of weather forecasting at the time, and asks some pretty pointed questions about the issue of fault during the course of a natural disaster. I think a lot of people would also agree that the book is a definite statement on the power of nature and the horror it can inflict when people are unprepared (not that people can always be prepared for natural disasters).
I'd definitely recommend this to people who like history in focused, short bursts (like this book or along the lines of something like Isaac's Storm) rather than out of texts. The only part where it even felt a bit boggy was the discussion on the history of weather forecasting, but that didn't really detract from my reading. If you're also interested in life on the plains, this is a good one to read as well. Very well written -- I couldn't stop reading it once I started.
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LibraryThing member bragan
On January 12, 1888, a snowstorm from hell swept across America's Great Plains. Temperatures rapidly dropped to levels that sound more fitting for Antarctica, and blowing snow crystals reduced the visibility to zero, making it nearly impossible to find one's way to shelter. Hundreds of people died.
I have to say, my primary reactions to this history of what was to be called "The Schoolchildren's Blizzard" seems to consist largely of "This is interesting, but..."
The account of the storm itself actually takes up less of the book than one might expect. First, it's preceded by some background on the settlement of the American prairies and the history of various immigrant families who were caught in the blizzard, including the motivations that drove them to leave their former homes and the hardships they faced on the journey and afterward. This is interesting, but it bounces back and forth between the tales of the various families so much that I found it a little difficult to keep track of everyone.
Then it goes on to explain in great detail how the storm formed, what the state of whether forecasting was at the time, whose job it was to predict this sort of thing, and why there wasn't more warning. This is interesting, but contains perhaps more information about the internal politics of 19th century weather forecasting than I ever actually wanted to know.
The chapters that do cover the events of the storm are rather gripping, with harrowing accounts of what people experienced and some very detailed and vivid descriptions of exactly what happens to the human body as it succumbs to hypothermia. This is interesting -- very much so -- but, well, it turns out that reading about children freezing to death is just really not a good time. (I know, who would have thought?)
All of this has, however, left me with one very useful realization: I never, ever, ever want to live someplace like South Dakota. I mean, I kind of already knew that, but now I'm really sure. It's not even so much due to hearing about the horrors of the blizzard, as about how the just-slightly-below-freezing temperatures that preceded it kept being described as "warm," or even "balmy." If you ask me, anywhere that's considered warm is just not fit for human habitation.
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A distressing number of them were children, since the storm hit while schools were in session, and many of the kids, with or without their teachers, ventured out into the storm in an attempt to get home from school, or at least to reach someplace better stocked with firewood.I have to say, my primary reactions to this history of what was to be called "The Schoolchildren's Blizzard" seems to consist largely of "This is interesting, but..."
The account of the storm itself actually takes up less of the book than one might expect. First, it's preceded by some background on the settlement of the American prairies and the history of various immigrant families who were caught in the blizzard, including the motivations that drove them to leave their former homes and the hardships they faced on the journey and afterward. This is interesting, but it bounces back and forth between the tales of the various families so much that I found it a little difficult to keep track of everyone.
Then it goes on to explain in great detail how the storm formed, what the state of whether forecasting was at the time, whose job it was to predict this sort of thing, and why there wasn't more warning. This is interesting, but contains perhaps more information about the internal politics of 19th century weather forecasting than I ever actually wanted to know.
The chapters that do cover the events of the storm are rather gripping, with harrowing accounts of what people experienced and some very detailed and vivid descriptions of exactly what happens to the human body as it succumbs to hypothermia. This is interesting -- very much so -- but, well, it turns out that reading about children freezing to death is just really not a good time. (I know, who would have thought?)
All of this has, however, left me with one very useful realization: I never, ever, ever want to live someplace like South Dakota. I mean, I kind of already knew that, but now I'm really sure. It's not even so much due to hearing about the horrors of the blizzard, as about how the just-slightly-below-freezing temperatures that preceded it kept being described as "warm," or even "balmy." If you ask me, anywhere that's considered warm is just not fit for human habitation.
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LibraryThing member ladycato
As a child, I was obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. I read them each over again times beyond count, but my very favorite was The Long Winter. It accounted how Laura's family and the town of De Smet, South Dakota, struggled to survive a brutal winter of low food and fuel. A
As I began to read The Children's Blizzard, I wasn't surprised to find that Laskin was also inspired by Wilder's The Long Winter. Wilder's terrible winter was the one of 1880-1881; the titular blizzard of this book took place January 12th, 1888 and was truly a freak storm.
The media stories a century ago often called the incident 'the School-Children's Blizzard,' because so many of the dead and maimed were children and teachers. They died in the grip of a suffocating, sub-zero storm, or froze to death in their school or home. Hundreds, across Nebraska and the Dakota Territory. Laskin takes a very thorough approach and begins by talking about these pioneers and where they were from: Norway or Germany, Mennonite or Quaker, they came west seeking a promised land of plenty. He focuses on several particular families, and in doing so, creates terrible tension because it's impossible to guess who will live or who will die. This is creative non-fiction at its finest. The science is a tad daunting as it describes the unique elements world-wide that come together to create such an unusually powerful storm--measurements state that the temperature dropped eighteen degrees in three minutes--and the manner that freezing kills the body; while the science is important, overall this is a tale of humanity, and that's the real story here.
I am most definitely keeping this book on my shelf and will be referring to it for years to come.
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morbid book, to be sure--I guess it's no surprise that I've grown up to write post-apocalyptic tales of survival, and I still have a keen interest in historical tales of survival as well.As I began to read The Children's Blizzard, I wasn't surprised to find that Laskin was also inspired by Wilder's The Long Winter. Wilder's terrible winter was the one of 1880-1881; the titular blizzard of this book took place January 12th, 1888 and was truly a freak storm.
The media stories a century ago often called the incident 'the School-Children's Blizzard,' because so many of the dead and maimed were children and teachers. They died in the grip of a suffocating, sub-zero storm, or froze to death in their school or home. Hundreds, across Nebraska and the Dakota Territory. Laskin takes a very thorough approach and begins by talking about these pioneers and where they were from: Norway or Germany, Mennonite or Quaker, they came west seeking a promised land of plenty. He focuses on several particular families, and in doing so, creates terrible tension because it's impossible to guess who will live or who will die. This is creative non-fiction at its finest. The science is a tad daunting as it describes the unique elements world-wide that come together to create such an unusually powerful storm--measurements state that the temperature dropped eighteen degrees in three minutes--and the manner that freezing kills the body; while the science is important, overall this is a tale of humanity, and that's the real story here.
I am most definitely keeping this book on my shelf and will be referring to it for years to come.
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LibraryThing member eleanor_eader
“We have been calling every storm a blizzard,” the Reverend S. F. Huntley wrote to a friend in New York, “but then [after January 12] decided that we had never had a blizzard before and never wanted one again.”
‘The School Children’s Blizzard’, as it came to be known, swept across the
While Laskin’s text needs no diagrams or visual aids, the inclusion of one or two might have enriched it even further. That’s a mild complaint, though; Laskin’s delivery of the physics behind the blizzard is accessible and well integrated into the anecdotal feel of the book.
The conditions that Laskin describes in harrowing, meticulous detail are almost impossible to summarise in review, but the 1888 blizzard makes for gripping retelling, and Laskin builds the story and moves it along at a pace that brings the reader into jeopardy along with the sons and daughters of farmhands across the flat, empty land, wide-eyed with fear as they try to strike out for home or turn back for some known shelter as the storm arrives ‘in a moment’. The wealth of hard research (sufficient to warrant a chapter-thick addition at the end of the book entitled ‘sources’, which is interesting in itself), of meteorological data, immigration, family histories of the settlers; even the bureaucratic failings of the bodies in charge of weather forecasting only add to the tension… this is a proper history, one that revolves around the human struggle, the individual tragedies and sometimes miraculous saves of that day.
‘The School Children’s Blizzard’, as it came to be known, swept across the
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American Midwest on January 12 1888, the worst storm of it’s kind to afflict the prairie lands since the settlers arrived there from Norway, Denmark, and Germany. Dakota and Nebraska in particular were caught in a perfect storm of bad timing, poverty, convergences of air pressure and temperatures whose results moved with bullet-train swiftness, and the residual hope of the immigrants who had been lured here by promises of ‘garden land’. When the morning seemed to herald a week-long thaw, not unheard of in January, prairie-dwellers took advantage of the lull to send their children to school, or to work on their farms, or to let the livestock out onto the pastures. Many of them were without heavy winter coats, or hats. This mistake cost more than 100 children their lives, and heralded the end of the first mass influx onto the Great Plains. Life here was no garden.While Laskin’s text needs no diagrams or visual aids, the inclusion of one or two might have enriched it even further. That’s a mild complaint, though; Laskin’s delivery of the physics behind the blizzard is accessible and well integrated into the anecdotal feel of the book.
The conditions that Laskin describes in harrowing, meticulous detail are almost impossible to summarise in review, but the 1888 blizzard makes for gripping retelling, and Laskin builds the story and moves it along at a pace that brings the reader into jeopardy along with the sons and daughters of farmhands across the flat, empty land, wide-eyed with fear as they try to strike out for home or turn back for some known shelter as the storm arrives ‘in a moment’. The wealth of hard research (sufficient to warrant a chapter-thick addition at the end of the book entitled ‘sources’, which is interesting in itself), of meteorological data, immigration, family histories of the settlers; even the bureaucratic failings of the bodies in charge of weather forecasting only add to the tension… this is a proper history, one that revolves around the human struggle, the individual tragedies and sometimes miraculous saves of that day.
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LibraryThing member Badgerbars
Carry this book with you. if you ever hear someone complain about how hectic life is smack them over the head with it. Life was unpredictable and brutal in the Dakotas in the 1880s, much more than say having two soccer practices scheduled on the same day. I like history, but reading about a killer
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blizzard with children freezing to death walking home from prairie schools seemed a bit much. I bought it anyway. Some parts as expected were sad and depressing, on the other hand some parts were uplifting. Well written book that really shows how difficult life used to be. Show Less
LibraryThing member nittnut
This is a history of the January 12, 1888 blizzard that devastated families and farms in the Dakota territories. It is also so much more.
The story begins by detailing the journey of the immigrants from Norway, Germany and Eastern Europe. They were lured by the promise of free land perfect for
The author also includes several detailed sections describing weather patterns in the central part of North America, and the conditions which brought about the "perfect storm". Of course, if you've read the [Little House on the Prairie] series, specifically, [The Long Winter], you will recognize many of the towns and the stories of grasshoppers and sudden terrible storms.
The stories are heartbreaking and the stoicism of the pioneers is truly amazing.
The story begins by detailing the journey of the immigrants from Norway, Germany and Eastern Europe. They were lured by the promise of free land perfect for
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farming. They suffer many challenges, including insects and weather. The author also includes several detailed sections describing weather patterns in the central part of North America, and the conditions which brought about the "perfect storm". Of course, if you've read the [Little House on the Prairie] series, specifically, [The Long Winter], you will recognize many of the towns and the stories of grasshoppers and sudden terrible storms.
The stories are heartbreaking and the stoicism of the pioneers is truly amazing.
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LibraryThing member janerawoof
This was NOT the time to read this one as the current blizzard roars up the East Coast; I should have waited until next summer!
A moving chronicle of the terrifying "children's blizzard" of January 12, 1888 in the Upper Midwest, Dakota Territory, Nebraska, Minnesota, even reaching down to Iowa,
A moving chronicle of the terrifying "children's blizzard" of January 12, 1888 in the Upper Midwest, Dakota Territory, Nebraska, Minnesota, even reaching down to Iowa,
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Texas, and Louisiana--why and how it arose, the severity, personal stories of the pioneers and their families. They were mostly immigrants from Norway, Germany, and a cluster of German Mennonites from Ukraine. Most of the victims were schoolchildren and their teachers. At least 200-500 lives were lost. Tracing the path of the storm, the author followed individual stories. So much weather data was overwhelming, but I enjoyed the personal factor, regretting that the stories were broken up. We leave one group, follow another and another, then return to the first group. The author explains in excruciating detail the progress of hypothermia and of frostbite and how death can result for each, using what might have happened to a group of the Mennonite boys and to several girls with frostbitten feet. He contrasts the primitive weather "indications" of that time of the Army Signal Corps with the Weather Service sophisticated forecasting of today. All in all a fascinating look at one of the major disasters of the U.S. Show Less
LibraryThing member porch_reader
Last month, we had a blizzard in Iowa. The snow came, the temperatures dropped, and the winds blew. The weather forecasters predicted it was coming at least two days before it arrived. My kid's elementary school closed, and even the University of Iowa suspended classes for the day. My husband
As I read about the blizzard that hit the prairie states (the Dakotas, Nebraska, etc.) in January 1888, I realized how lucky we are now. The weather forecasting system was much less sophisticated then, and the blizzard struck with almost no warning. As a result, children who had walked to one-room schoolhouses on the morning of January 12 were faced with the choice of staying at the schoolhouse with little food or wood for fuel or trying to make their way home with almost zero visibility, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. The results were tragic. Many died in the blizzard and others were left with severe frostbite.
I read this book because it is the selection for my book club this month. I was a bit surprised by how much I liked it. Laskin not only tells the story of the blizzard. He also sets the stage by providing some background about families who had recently moved to this area and discussing the state of weather forecasting at the time. However, for me, the most interesting chapters were those that detailed the events of January 12-13 during the blizzard. Laskin interweaves the stories of a number of the children and teachers who were fighting the conditions of the blizzard, providing just the right amount of detail to paint a picture of the horrors they faced.
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didn't even try to dig out our driveway. We all stayed home for the day. By the next day, we were back to our normal routine. As I read about the blizzard that hit the prairie states (the Dakotas, Nebraska, etc.) in January 1888, I realized how lucky we are now. The weather forecasting system was much less sophisticated then, and the blizzard struck with almost no warning. As a result, children who had walked to one-room schoolhouses on the morning of January 12 were faced with the choice of staying at the schoolhouse with little food or wood for fuel or trying to make their way home with almost zero visibility, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. The results were tragic. Many died in the blizzard and others were left with severe frostbite.
I read this book because it is the selection for my book club this month. I was a bit surprised by how much I liked it. Laskin not only tells the story of the blizzard. He also sets the stage by providing some background about families who had recently moved to this area and discussing the state of weather forecasting at the time. However, for me, the most interesting chapters were those that detailed the events of January 12-13 during the blizzard. Laskin interweaves the stories of a number of the children and teachers who were fighting the conditions of the blizzard, providing just the right amount of detail to paint a picture of the horrors they faced.
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LibraryThing member kelawrence
"Well . . . I really, really, really wanted to like this book. Almost all of the reviews were great and the subject matter appealed to me. Unfortunately, I had to force myself to finish it. I kept thinking it would get better. At least 1/3 of the book is a science/meteorology lesson outlining
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how/why storms like this occur (B-O-R-I-N-G), while another sizeable chunk was explaining the biology and phenemena of freezing to death/hypothermia. The smallest part of the book (the part I was most interested in) was devoted to the families and their stories of this horrible storm. I realize there may not be much written history about this (given the tragedy of the situation and the time period - 1888), but this book really left me wanting more. A disappointment Show Less
LibraryThing member ocgreg34
From Sebastien Junger's recounting of the fateful events surrounding the Andrea Gail in October of 1991 to the terrible havoc from the recent tornadoes in Texas, the power and destruction of storms has always been strangely intriguing. Maybe it's because we know next to nothing about how to control
In "The Children's Blizzard
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them or how to accurately predict them, and that fear of the unpredictable drives us to try to understand them. Nowadays, we have radar and weather balloons and computers that assist with figuring out what makes those powerful storms tick, and even then, we still are faced with a so much uncertainty about them.In "The Children's Blizzard
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LibraryThing member spoko
Talk about a page-turner. This is one of those books where you read the blurbs (which say things like "terrifying but beautifully written" and "reads like a thriller") after you've read the book, and you think "Yeah, that's about right." This is a non-fiction account of the blizzard that swept over
Today, aside from a few fine marble headstones in country graveyards and the occasionial roadside historical marker, not a trace of the blizzard of 1888 remains on the prairie. Yet in the imagination and identity of the region, the storm is as sharply etched as ever: This is a place where blizzards kill children on their way home from school.
[Emphasis his.]
Laskin does a remarkable job with the book. The reasons for the blizzard's power and deadliness are complicated, bound up not just in the weather itself but in the history of the region (and the U.S. in general), in patterns of European migration, in military affairs, even in religion. The author weaves these lines together into a gripping story; it's difficult to put the book down, even as the text moves in and out of such disparate subjects. I should add that his writing was good enough to make the story of a blizzard tangible to me even as I read it on 90° days in June.
This is one of the two best books I've read all year, and one of the best I've ever read period. It's books like this that make me love the historical-nonfiction genre. And it's stories like this that, in spite of themselves, bind me to the Great Plains.
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the Great Plains on January 12, 1888. It was an event that defined the consciousness of a broad area of the nation, and continues to define it to this day. The story itself is heartrending: the first warm, mild morning in weeks turned instantly into one of the coldest, deadliest blizzards of all time. Farmers were caught in their fields, ranchers were caught tending to their animals. Worst of all, children were caught in schoolhouses, many of which could not provide adequate shelter through such a storm. By the time January 13 rolled around, the prairie was scattered with hundreds of dead bodies, many of them children (thus the name given to the blizzard, from which the book takes its title). A telling excerpt:Today, aside from a few fine marble headstones in country graveyards and the occasionial roadside historical marker, not a trace of the blizzard of 1888 remains on the prairie. Yet in the imagination and identity of the region, the storm is as sharply etched as ever: This is a place where blizzards kill children on their way home from school.
[Emphasis his.]
Laskin does a remarkable job with the book. The reasons for the blizzard's power and deadliness are complicated, bound up not just in the weather itself but in the history of the region (and the U.S. in general), in patterns of European migration, in military affairs, even in religion. The author weaves these lines together into a gripping story; it's difficult to put the book down, even as the text moves in and out of such disparate subjects. I should add that his writing was good enough to make the story of a blizzard tangible to me even as I read it on 90° days in June.
This is one of the two best books I've read all year, and one of the best I've ever read period. It's books like this that make me love the historical-nonfiction genre. And it's stories like this that, in spite of themselves, bind me to the Great Plains.
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LibraryThing member lyzadanger
An easy, pop barnstormer of a read reminiscent of Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Time" (though not as masterful) and Erik Larson's "Isaac's Storm."
Laskin is a careful narrator and the story is a naturally interesting one. It's not hard to build compelling pathos in the plight of so many brave
Laskin's explorations of the nascent science of meteorology can sometimes wax enthusiastically long-winded, but you'll likely find that the bulk of this book slips away easily. You may even feel guilty at how enjoyable it is.
Laskin is a careful narrator and the story is a naturally interesting one. It's not hard to build compelling pathos in the plight of so many brave
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pioneers facing down the wrath of nature. Laskin's explorations of the nascent science of meteorology can sometimes wax enthusiastically long-winded, but you'll likely find that the bulk of this book slips away easily. You may even feel guilty at how enjoyable it is.
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LibraryThing member KimberlyL
The story of one of the worst blizzards to ever hit the the Western Plains in January 1888. The author does a very good job of introducing the individuals involved as well as the technology and politics that contributed to the human side of the disaster as well as explaining the physical forces
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behind the weather patterns that created the deadly storm. The only draw back for me was the lack of visual aides, maps and photographs, etc. Those always enhance a story for me. But all in all, a very good book. It read like a good novel, but never let you forget that you were hearing the stories of real people some who survived and some who didn't. Show Less
LibraryThing member Richj
A heartbreaking well written book on one of the terrible blizzards. Compares well to Isaac's Storm. First place to a detailed description of living (or not) through a blizzard that will have you pulling up the blanket on even a warm night. Also covers the science of weather as it stood then and
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now. The bureaucracy of what would become the weather bureau. How the settlers of the upper Midwest came to be there and what their lives were like. In the actions that brought the Mennonites to the area you can see the forces that lead to WW1. In the farm conditions you can see what lead to the Populist Party. The author's contention that this blizzard lives in the area's memory doesn't agree with my experience of living there. Show Less
LibraryThing member hlselz
This book is a really imformative account of the "childrens blizzard" that devasted the great plains. The blizzard hit right when children were getting out of school, so many died or were injured as they got caught, and stuck in the weather. Includes very detailed descriptions of what happens to
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the body as we go into hypothermia. Also very detailed descriptions of the weather systems in the midwest, and how they moved across the prairie to create such a deadly blizzard. Show Less
LibraryThing member labfs39
Seattle author David Laskin takes a single blizzard, one that occurred January 12, 1888, and creates an entire narrative of the North European immigration to the Great Plains and the hardships they endured there. He follows families of Norwegians and Schweitzer Germans to America, writes of their
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attempts to bend the land to their will, and the blizzard that emphasizes how futile that attempt could be. He even follows the life and career of the weather forecaster stationed in Saint Paul and his role in the events that unfolded. The book is a primer on meteorology, a collective biography, and a history of the Midwest as reflected in a single natural disaster. It is a fine example of narrative nonfiction, and I especially appreciated his extensive notes on sources. Recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
It's obvious that the author is a meteorological nerd and it overwhelms the book. The anecdotal tales are the highlight, and revealing this horrible incident is a justification for writing it. I also enjoyed the back stories of the Norwegian immigrants, in these fraught anti-immigrant days of the
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worst president ever. But all the arcane weather data prevented my absorption in the narrative. Show Less
LibraryThing member dele2451
The next time you or your kids think life is a bit hard, pick up this book. Mr Laskins not only describes the meteorological events which contributed to this deadly storm's formation, he incorporates the human events that brought the victims of the tragedy to the Dakota prairies in the first place
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and the hardships they endured to eek out a living. While many modern day Americans have the luxury of expectating FEMA, the Red Cross, the National Guard or some other agency to show up to help them in times of crisis, the immigrants that settled the territories during the 1800's often had no one to rely on but themselves. Given the nature of the subject matter, I thought 'Blizzard' would be a bit more maudlin, but I was mistaken. Yes, it is a snapshot of a harrowing catastrophe that left scores of people dead and permanently scarred, yet it also contains inspiring accounts of heroism, educational segments about the formation and direction of severe weather patterns and some simple strokes of "luck." In addition, military history buffs should find much to appreciate in Laskin's research of the Signal Corps and its players plus the politics surrounding the organization itself. If you've ever questioned the need for mandatory disaster preparedness training for young teachers--before they are charged with leading a classroom--this is a must read. Even if you haven't, I definitely recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member mhgatti
Laskin uses a deadly ninetieth-century storm that took the Great Plains by surprise to tell the story of homestead life and the weather forecasting methods of the era, and how neither of them were very successful.
It seems clear that Laskin had more access to the history of early meteorology (at
While Laskin seems to want badly to bring this scientific event down to a personal level, the families stories are never compelling enough to truly care about its victims nor varied enough to follow them from start to finish. So much of the book is centered around so few stories that it's easy to come away thinking that there were only a handful of victims, instead of the hundreds there actually were. This lack of pioneer family history might not be all Laskin's fault, but it does prevent him from delivering the affecting story the book shoots for.
It seems clear that Laskin had more access to the history of early meteorology (at
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that time, it was done by the US Army) than he did to the history of poor immigrant homesteaders. Laskin sets up some personal stories early and briefly updates them throughout the book, filling in the sizable gaps with scientific details on weather patterns and their highs and lows (until your eyes glaze over) and the gory details on how the body reacts to extreme cold. He also spend quite a bit of time on the bureaucratic missteps that occurred in setting up and running the pioneer weather stations.While Laskin seems to want badly to bring this scientific event down to a personal level, the families stories are never compelling enough to truly care about its victims nor varied enough to follow them from start to finish. So much of the book is centered around so few stories that it's easy to come away thinking that there were only a handful of victims, instead of the hundreds there actually were. This lack of pioneer family history might not be all Laskin's fault, but it does prevent him from delivering the affecting story the book shoots for.
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LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
This book gets a little heavy with weather terminology in a couple of chapters. The author also weaves MANY stories of various immigrants lives throughout the book...don't try to keep them straight. Just read the book. The story is fascinating.
LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
remarkable research. very well written. LOVED IT!!!
LibraryThing member keely_chace
Great popular history. This account of the sudden and devastating 1880s "school children's blizzard" unfolds like a suspense novel.
Awards
Washington State Book Award (Winner — 2005)
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (Winner — 2005)
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2005)
Language
Original publication date
2004
ISBN
0060520752 / 9780060520755