A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes

“A scene of utter devastation greeted them: homes obliterated, mighty trees washed away, and water, receding toward the Gulf, covering the land in every direction” 

This scene from 1957’s Hurricane Audrey shows how a familiar world has been turned upside-down. The hurricane imposed a watery realm that defeated previously sturdy land entities, such as the mightiest trees and the homes built to shelter humans. The water that covered the land in all directions is a symbol of chaos on the scale of a Biblical flood, in addition to signaling a loss of control over the landscape.

“While Hurricane Audrey is unique in its particulars, from a broader perspective it is an all-too-familiar narrative. Hurricanes are—have always been—an integral, inevitable, and painful part of the American experience.” 

This passage exposes the paradox that will continue throughout Dolin’s text. He argues that all hurricanes are individual, while the motif of their destruction is repetitive. By characterizing hurricanes as “part of the American experience,” Dolin asserts that they are important in the formation of the nation’s character.

“Seen from space, hurricanes are one of the most beautiful and mesmerizing features in the world. Racing around the globe like downy, spinning pinwheels floating silently above the Earth, their magnificence belies their dreadful impact on American history.” 

Dolin describes the beauty of this non-human tormentor from space. From a non-human perspective, a hurricane is an awesome phenomenon and deceptively peaceful-looking with its floating pinwheel aspect. Taking an aerial view of a hurricane allows Dolin to show that no human can contend with its vastness.