The Great Cyclone at St Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896 (Shawnee Classics (Reprinted))
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Product Description
Shortly after 5:00 P.M. On Wednesday, May 27, 1896, a Herculean tornado shattered the St. Louis Area. Within twenty minutes, 137 people had perished in St. Louis, with 118 dead across the river in East St. Louis. Along a ten-mile swath of devastation, the tornado destroyed 311 buildings, heavily damaged 7,200 others and caused significant harm to 1,300 more. Even today, that powerful cyclone of a century ago "remains the single deadliest incident to befall the St. Louis area," according to Tim O’Neil of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who wrote the foreword for this historic reprint of a book originally published by the Cyclone Publishing Company.
Heavily illustrated by photographs of the damage, The Great Cyclone was compiled from stories in the city’s daily newspapers—the Globe-Democrat, the Post-Dispatch, and, most notably, the old St. Louis Republic. O’Neil points out that "the book’s compilers are not identified, but their glowing praise of the ‘superb descriptive composition’ in the Republic provides a good guess about where most of them worked."
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
fascinating story
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Comment:
Fascinating reprint of a extremely interesting famous disaster in Saint Louis Missouri.Great for weather buffs!
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Summary:
A twister unraveled
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Comment:
So much has been written about this storm over the years and so much erroneous. Major tornado histories have stated there was no funnel cloud but as we know from this book that was true at the start of the storm but later in its path there clearly was a funnel--the book even describes its location at cloud level AND ground level--and then multiple funnels were evident. This contemporary account from more than a century ago still provides riveting reading. Perhaps one day someone will likewise document the Sept. 29, 1927, tornado which similarly has been misreported over the years (no funnel in that one, too, reportedly except I've spoken to people who SAW it).
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Summary:
A wonderful reprint of a rare piece of history.
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Comment:
Bravo to the Southern Illinois University Press for reprinting this wonderful historical account of a horrific natural disaster. The pictures alone tell an incredible story of destruction. Interviews with people show the biases of the time, and it is written in melodramatic tones typical of the 1890s. It is hard to read this book without picturing yourself as being a part of the event then, or picturing such an event happening today. This event changed thousands of lives a century ago, but its significance has faded with passing years. It is a valuable reality check to have this account reprinted, so that we can be reminded that battling nature, overcoming devastation, and exercising a will to rebuild are common themes which reach back far beyond our world today.
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