A review by mcf
A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin

4.0

Attempting to cover 500 years of history in a single volume is ambitious, no matter the topic, but Eric Jay Dolin does an impressive job of being both thorough and efficient in his examination of five centuries of American interactions with hurricanes. There are the expected jaw-dropping numbers and mind-blowing photos, but Dolin also effectively incorporates the history of forecasting into his book, alongside personal stories that help illustrate the impact of each storm he examines. A Furious Sky is engaging throughout, and often viscerally upsetting in its discussion of the costs of -- and responses to -- storms. Perhaps most impressively, Dolin comfortably engages with the political tensions surrounding a number of the storms, foregrounding accuracy of reporting over concern about offended people who object to the fact he's reporting (be it about Katrina, Maria, or a number of earlier storms).

Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton for the ARC.