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The Children's Blizzard
Scritto da David Laskin
Narrato da Paul Woodson
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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 Friday morning, January 13, 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.
By Friday morning, January 13, 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.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
The Children's Blizzard
Scritto da David Laskin
Narrato da Paul Woodson
Descrizione
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 Friday morning, January 13, 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.
By Friday morning, January 13, 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.
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Recensioni
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. 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.
Rating: 4A very thorough accounting of the blizzard of 1888, known as the Children's Blizzard. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of background that is covered in this book. It covers not only the people and the storm itself, but also the history of how they came to the U.S. and settled in the area, and the geography and the meteorology of this time and place in the country.
Mr. Laskin begins with a look at the settlement of western Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska. We get to know some of the families who immigrated to the U.S., how and why they came. Why they choose the prairie to settle, and the hardships they endured coming and settling here. Then the book switches over to a bit of history of the Weather Bureau, how it worked (or didn't), and how the politics of the day impacted their work.
The author discusses the weather patterns over that part of the country, and then goes into quite a lot of detail about the storm itself. This is especially enlightening in demonstrating how this particular winter storm was so much worse than any other. This was not just an ordinary blizzard.
Of course we get the stories of individuals who both survived the storm, and those who did not. I was particularly surprised at how many managed to survive the storm, only to succumb in it's aftermath. I think most of us (at least myself), think that if you manage to survive until the weather is clear, you'll be all right. That is not the case.
Rating: 4Mr. Laskin begins with a look at the settlement of western Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska. We get to know some of the families who immigrated to the U.S., how and why they came. Why they choose the prairie to settle, and the hardships they endured coming and settling here. Then the book switches over to a bit of history of the Weather Bureau, how it worked (or didn't), and how the politics of the day impacted their work.
The author discusses the weather patterns over that part of the country, and then goes into quite a lot of detail about the storm itself. This is especially enlightening in demonstrating how this particular winter storm was so much worse than any other. This was not just an ordinary blizzard.
Of course we get the stories of individuals who both survived the storm, and those who did not. I was particularly surprised at how many managed to survive the storm, only to succumb in it's aftermath. I think most of us (at least myself), think that if you manage to survive until the weather is clear, you'll be all right. That is not the case.
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 worst president ever. But all the arcane weather data prevented my absorption in the narrative.
Rating: 4As 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 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.
Rating: 5Seattle 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 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.
Rating: 4A harrowing tale of January 12, 1888 in the newly settled US plains. The History Channel website puts it like this:
On this day in 1888, the so-called "Schoolchildren's Blizzard" kills 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning, and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours.
It was a Thursday afternoon and there had been unseasonably warm weather the previous day from Montana east to the Dakotas and south to Texas. Suddenly, within a matter of hours, Arctic air from Canada rapidly pushed south. Temperatures plunged to 40 below zero in much of North Dakota. Along with the cool air, the storm brought high winds and heavy snows. The combination created blinding conditions.
THAT I can understand! However, Laskin takes this story and, instead of making it real to the average reader, bogs down the text with an abundance of technical terms, protracted weather explanations and hard-to-follow story lines. I will take one at a time.
While I appreciate Laskin's desire to educate me on weather phenomena, his use of meteorological terminology did little to boost my understanding of why this blizzard occurred. Instead, reading the reasons, lows, highs, barometric pressures, and such was like swimming in quicksand. I quickly abandoned careful reading and resorted to skimming - something I am sure no author desires from his audience.
The weather causes and effects explained in a careful scientific manner went on and on, bogging me down regularly. That, added to the character-heavy ramblings, and I was thoroughly confused chapter after chapter. There was almost a feeling of "oh, by the way, since I mentioned him, let me tell you his life story." I would have rather been introduced to a few key families and followed them throughout the story.
Because of the subject matter, and to honor the over 200 people that perished, I really wanted to like this book. However, I am sorry to say that I cannot recommend this one.
Rating: 2On this day in 1888, the so-called "Schoolchildren's Blizzard" kills 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning, and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours.
It was a Thursday afternoon and there had been unseasonably warm weather the previous day from Montana east to the Dakotas and south to Texas. Suddenly, within a matter of hours, Arctic air from Canada rapidly pushed south. Temperatures plunged to 40 below zero in much of North Dakota. Along with the cool air, the storm brought high winds and heavy snows. The combination created blinding conditions.
THAT I can understand! However, Laskin takes this story and, instead of making it real to the average reader, bogs down the text with an abundance of technical terms, protracted weather explanations and hard-to-follow story lines. I will take one at a time.
While I appreciate Laskin's desire to educate me on weather phenomena, his use of meteorological terminology did little to boost my understanding of why this blizzard occurred. Instead, reading the reasons, lows, highs, barometric pressures, and such was like swimming in quicksand. I quickly abandoned careful reading and resorted to skimming - something I am sure no author desires from his audience.
The weather causes and effects explained in a careful scientific manner went on and on, bogging me down regularly. That, added to the character-heavy ramblings, and I was thoroughly confused chapter after chapter. There was almost a feeling of "oh, by the way, since I mentioned him, let me tell you his life story." I would have rather been introduced to a few key families and followed them throughout the story.
Because of the subject matter, and to honor the over 200 people that perished, I really wanted to like this book. However, I am sorry to say that I cannot recommend this one.
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 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.
Rating: 4Brutal true story of a blizzard that swept the plains in the 1870's, killing many people. Tragically this included children on their way home from school.
Rating: 3The 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 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.
Rating: 4Laskin's approach to telling this story is apparently motivated by his political views that too many Europeans were enticed to homestead on free land and that they came to America unprepared for life on the prairie. Interspersed within his excellent storytelling of this dramatic and devastating storm, Laskin suggests that taking over the grassland from the indigenous peoples only harmed the environment, not to mention an entire race. Does the name Laskin sound native American to you? Perhaps Mr. Laskin feels that only his forefathers were permitted to come to America? I doubt that the Russian Germans who came to escape the Czar's brutality and military enscriptions felt that they had made a bad choice. Generally, the pioneers that I have read about were more than grateful for what they had and were willing to encounter hardships along the way. Aside from the political commentary, this story was well researched and the parts about the storm itself and the people it affected were spell-binding and gripping. Another epic Great Plains pioneer story of the human will for survival and our ability to overcome difficult challenges
Rating: 4"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 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
Rating: 2I enjoy books that capture the flavor of an era, and this book certainly does that. The blizzard of 1888, by all accounts, was the "perfect storm," a confluence of patterns that sent a wall of snow, wind, and cold (almost literally) sweeping across the Dakotas and Nebraska killing many people and children who had left for school with inadequate clothing because the weather had been unusually mild that morning. In one city the temperature dropped 50 degrees in a matter of hours. A tragic story unfolds as the author follows several families before, during, and after the event.
I am actually surprised that given the conditions, more people didn't die.
Rating: 4I am actually surprised that given the conditions, more people didn't die.
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, 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.
Rating: 3remarkable research. very well written. LOVED IT!!!
Rating: 4The Children's Blizzard is a documentary about a particularly disastrous blizzard in 1888 in the Dakota Territory that blew in without warning, trapping many people outside. The beginning of the book is a little slow. About the first 100 pages is an introduction. However, when the storm arrives, the story becomes quite interesting. I also found that all of my questions about anything in the book were quickly answered in the following paragraphs. Many parts of the book shocked me. Overall I enjoyed reading this book, but I do not recommend reading it during the winter.
Rating: 4The 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 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.
Rating: 4Laskin went WAAAY back to the old country and brought the people onto the Dakota-Nebraska prairie through a long set of excerpts. It would have been more interesting to have been able to read the original source documents. The actual storm and immediate circumstances were rather abruptly presented. I've seen this type of literature done much better by others.
Rating: 3A 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 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.
Rating: 4A fascinating, meticulously researched account of the 19th century blizzard that devastated parts of the Great Plains. David Laskin digs deep to unearth the economic, political, and scientific conditions leading up to the storm, explaining in great detail the meteorological causes of such a blizzard, what happens to a body as the effects of hypothermia take hold, and why people were settled into this wild frontier in the first place. A fascinating, devastating read filled with personal tragedies and triumphs of those who lived--or died--through the ordeal. My one gripe: Some of the passages describing in intricate detail the weather conditions that birthed such a storm read like a textbook and were generally boring and too long.
Rating: 4Dramatic telling of a sudden and ferocious blizzard that swept through Montana, the Dakotas, and Nebraska one day in 1888, and the people who faced it. The human stories -- immigrant families, schoolmarms, and more -- are richly textured and hence all the more touching.
Rating: 5Themes: weather, adversity, family, faith, scienceSetting: January 1888, Dakota territory, Iowa, Minnesota, and NebraskaJanuary 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 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
Rating: 4"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 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.
Rating: 4From 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 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
Rating: 4This book not only covers the gripping tale of the children stranded in the blizzard, it also tells of the meteorology of the times. It inspired me to look into more novels written about people struggling to survive adverse weather conditions.
Rating: 5Given my unnatural obsession with the Laura Ingalls Wilder book, "Long Winter," it's not shocking that I enjoyed this book. (Well, as much as one can enjoy reading about frozen children.) I'll only reiterate what the other reviewers have said: there's a lot of boring crap about meteorology and the politics of the weather service. I skimmed over a lot of that; I got the gist of it, but that was enough for me.
Also, reading it on my Kindle, I was fairly shocked when I finished the book....at only 75% of the way through! The last quarter appears to be footnotes and the like. Surprising, and a bit disappointing.
Rating: 4Also, reading it on my Kindle, I was fairly shocked when I finished the book....at only 75% of the way through! The last quarter appears to be footnotes and the like. Surprising, and a bit disappointing.
Great popular history. This account of the sudden and devastating 1880s "school children's blizzard" unfolds like a suspense novel.
Rating: 5Laskin 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 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.
Rating: 2Gripping tale of true horror. Just goes to show you the carnage that can result from ignorance and government budgeting decisions. With some merciless weather thrown it. Cool.
Rating: 4Protagonist: thousands of settlers who knew nothing about winter on the Great PlainsSetting: the Great Plains of the US, 1880sA detailed account of a blizzard that swept down out of Canada on January 12, 1888 and brought everything to a screeching halt on the Great Plains. Hardest hit was present-day South Dakota, western Minnesota and Nebraska. It was called the "Children's Blizzard" because most of the fatalities were children coming home from school. This book is very uneven. The weak points are mind-numbing descriptions of weather and the effects of frostbite. The strength lies with the people who survived the blizzard and wrote down their experiences.
Rating: 4I've always been fascinated by weather and diaries, so this was a great combination. This nonfiction book draws on historical documents such as journals and diaries to tell the story of people who experienced the blizzard of 1888. Hundreds of people were killed by this freak storm that hit just as students were being dismissed from country school on a sunny January day. My only criticism is that the author didn't include more direct quotes from diaries and instead retold the story in his own words.
Rating: 4