The narrative style Erik Larson employs to describe the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is, at a rudimentary level, similar to that of David McCullough. Larson, similar to McCullough, does not intertwine footnotes with the text, which as Sarah<\/a>\u00a0and Emily<\/a>\u00a0argue discounts the reliability of the narrator. The Johnstown Flood<\/i> however, offers a variety of accounts to provide balance and diversity to the narrative, while Isaac\u2019s Storm<\/i> emphasizes a dominant narrative fostered by other lesser accounts.<\/p>\n Science also differentiates the two novels: it was heavily stressed in Isaac\u2019s Storm<\/i> and nearly disregarded in The Johnstown Flood<\/i>. The description of the formation of a hurricane felt similar to Bill Bryson\u2019s A Short History of Nearly Everything<\/i>, and I wonder if Larson would have benefited as a historical writer by implementing a citation scheme similar to Bryson\u2019s (Bryson provides footnotes).<\/p>\n The residents of Galveston cultivated a feeling of security similar to that of Johnstown residents. Unlike the Chicago Fire or the Johnstown Flood, the Galveston Hurricane was not preceded by months of foreboding weather. Similar to the residents of Johnstown, the Galvestonians were accustomed to small floods, and severely doubted the likelihood of anything a disaster. However, I believe Johnstown residents to be more ignorant of potential threat, due to a history of flooding and the poor location, than Galveston residents, who had never experienced a hurricane before. Instead of placing partial blame on Galvestonians, Larson expresses his disappointment in the United States Weather Bureau\u2019s confidence and the Cuban weather cable ban. Further, he places blame much more indiscreetly on authorities, including Isaac. Larson transforms the principal character, Isaac, into an antagonist by noting the observation of a decreasing barometric pressure yet neglecting to warn people.<\/p>\n However, all this being said, it is easier to criticize the inaction of meteorologists knowing what we know now about weather patterns and the outcome of the hurricane. AJ phrased it well in his post<\/a>: \u201cThe era that this event occurred in, the way people went about handling the situation and the eventual misjudged outcome, I believe explains a lot about where disaster preparedness was at the time and showed Americans what desperately needed to change.\u201d I understand why Isaac trusted his former knowledge and dismissed the threat of catastrophe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The narrative style Erik Larson employs to describe the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is, at a rudimentary level, similar to that of David McCullough. Larson, similar to McCullough, does not intertwine footnotes with the text, which as Sarah\u00a0and Emily\u00a0argue discounts the reliability of the narrator. The Johnstown Flood however, offers a variety of accounts to … <\/p>\n