The Great Galveston Disaster (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Eyewitness Accounts of the 1900 Texas Coast Hurricane, Urban Ruin, Survival, and American Disaster MemoryBy Paul Lester
Length22h 17m
About this audiobook
The Great Galveston Disaster is a vivid account of the catastrophic hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, in September 1900, one of the deadliest natural disasters in American history. Combining reportage, eyewitness testimony, moral reflection, and sensational narrative pacing, the book belongs to the turn-of-the-century genre of disaster literature, in which calamity was rendered both as public history and as cautionary drama. Its descriptions of storm surge, urban ruin, human endurance, and communal grief preserve the immediacy of a national trauma before modern meteorology and emergency management had fully developed. Paul Lester wrote in an era when newspapers, illustrated books, and popular chronicles shaped Americans' understanding of distant catastrophes. Though less remembered than the event he recorded, Lester worked within a journalistic tradition that sought to transform scattered reports and survivor narratives into coherent public memory. The Galveston hurricane, with its immense loss of life and exposure of civic vulnerability, offered precisely the kind of subject that demanded both documentation and moral interpretation. Readers interested in American environmental history, disaster studies, Texas history, or early popular journalism will find this book valuable. It is recommended not merely as a chronicle of destruction, but as a revealing artifact of how Americans once narrated catastrophe, heroism, providence, and resilience.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.0 (150)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing
GenreHistory
Length22 hrs 17 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 21, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Great Galveston Disaster (Annotated)
2PREFACE.
3Introduction
4CHAPTER I. First News of the Great Calamity—Galveston Almost Totally Destroyed by Winds and Waves. Thousands Swept to Instant Death.
5WORST HURRICANE EVER KNOWN.
Show all chaptersShow less
6BODIES FLOATING IN THE BAY.
7LOST WIFE AND SIX CHILDREN.
8MANY TOWNS DEMOLISHED.
9SANTA FE TRAIN BLOWN FROM THE TRACK.
10WATER BLOWN COMPLETELY OVER THE CITY.
11A BRIDGE TWO MILES LONG.
12VAST AMOUNT OF MONEY INVESTED.
13OMINOUS PROGRESS OF THE STORM.
14ALWAYS IN DANGER DURING A HURRICANE.
15THE FATEFUL WINDS GATHERING FORCE.
16CHAPTER II. The Tale of Destruction Grows—A Night of Horrors—Sufferings of the Survivors—Relief Measures by the National Government.
17WIND STORM OF GIANT FORCE.
18OVER SEVEN HUNDRED CORPSES FOUND.
19RELIEF WORK STARTED.
20THE CITY IN RUINS.
21CITY TURNED INTO A RAGING SEA.
22VERY FEW BUILDINGS ESCAPED.
23WRECKAGE SWEPT ACROSS THE BAY.
24EIGHT OCEAN STEAMERS STRANDED.
25MULTITUDES SWEPT OUT TO SEA.
26ARMY TENTS AND RATIONS FOR THE SUFFERERS.
27AN APPEAL FROM HOUSTON.
28CLARA BARTON READY FOR RELIEF WORK.
29THE DESTRUCTION INLAND.
30CHAPTER III. Incidents of the Awful Hurricane—Unparalleled Atrocities by Lawless Hordes—Earnest Appeals for Help.
31BODIES BEING BURIED IN TRENCHES.
32MILITARY FORCES AND SPECIAL POLICE.
33THE STENCH UNBEARABLE.
34WORK OF HEARTLESS CRIMINALS.
35THE FINANCIAL OUTCOME.
36TENTS AND RATIONS SENT.
37CONDITIONS THAT BEGGAR DESCRIPTION.
38MONEY BEGINNING TO POUR IN.
39A VOICE FROM JOHNSTOWN.
40BUILDINGS DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD.
41TWO GIGANTIC FORCES AT WORK.
42ADDITIONAL DETAILS.
43COMMUNICATIONS ALL CUT.
44IN THE BUSINESS DISTRICT.
45CARING FOR THE DEAD.
46RESISTLESS POWER OF THE HURRICANE.
47STIRRING APPEALS FOR HELP.
48TERRIBLE SUFFERING AND MISERY.
49CHAPTER IV. The Cry of Distress in the Wrecked City—Negro Vandals Shot Down—Progress of the Relief Work—Strict Military Rule.
50POCKET FULL OF HUMAN FINGERS.
More from Paul Lester
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$1.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
You may also like
The Storm of the CenturyAl Roker, William Hogeland8h 7m4.1 (3.1K)$26 · $0.00
Earth AbidesGeorge R. Stewart13h 55m4.1 (48.3K)$33 · $0.00
Ski WeekendRektok Ross8h 27m3.7 (4.4K)$20
The ForsakenErica Stevens9h 34m4.5 (1.2K)$20
The Worst Hard TimeTimothy Egan12h 57m4.1 (63.4K)$33 · $0.00
Get Well SoonJennifer Wright7h 43m4.3 (17.7K)$20
The New NormalJennifer Ashton8h 42m4.1 (305)$26 · $0.00
Of Time and TurtlesSy Montgomery10h 34m4.5 (5K)$29 · $0.00
I Had to SurviveDr. Roberto Canessa, Pablo Vierci8h 31m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
The Ultimate Survival Medicine GuideAlton, Joseph8h 54m4.3 (1.3K)Free
Night of the TwistersIvy Ruckman2h 50m4.0 (4.6K)$15
Just Get HomeBridget Foley9h 6m3.6 (1.2K)$29 · $0.00
Necessary EndingsHenry Cloud7h 16m4.3 (15.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Great HurricaneCherie Burns5h 50m4.1 (1.9K)$17
The Ginseng HunterJeff Talarigo4h 16m3.6 (1.2K)$20 · $0.00
The Great Galveston DisasterPaul Lester23h 4m4.0 (26)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Story of the Galveston HorrorVarious8h 32m3.9 (207)$1.99 · $0.00
"Sterminator Vesevo" (Vesuvius the great exterminator)Matilde Serao1h 57m3.3 (10)$2 · $0.00
Sicily in Shadow and in Sun: The Earthquake and the American Relief WorkMaud Howe Elliott7h 30m$2 · $0.00
The Deep End of Hope in the Wake of Hurricane HeleneEmma M Churchman6h 18m4.5 (27)$18 · $0.00