Editorial Review:
"Brings history to life in a book as readable as any novel." --Good Old Boat On Friday, November 7, 1913, after four days of winds up to 90 miles an hour, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous seas, 19 ships had been lost on the great-lakes, 238 sailors were dead, and Cleveland was confronting the worst natural disaster in its history. David G. Brown combines narrative intensity with factual depth to re-create the "perfect storm" that struck America's heartland. Brown has created a vast epic ranging over Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie and echoing down the decades.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Un-put-down-able, even for a landlubber  2008-11-07
I picked this book up on a whim, then found I couldn't stop turning the pages. Mr. Brown has a style that carries the weight of his story's detail as smoothly as one of those big freighters do her cargo on a calm sea. it is a tribute to this man's narrative skill that he drew me, neither knowledgeable nor particularly enthusiastic about his subject, and fascinated to the last page. The maps and illustrations are very helpful as well for visualizing how the structure of the ships and the geography of the lakes contributed to this set of disasters. I highly recommend this book.
Grandpa's storm  2008-04-22
Growing up I had heard stories about this storm from my late grandfather, Hugh McLeod, captain of the "Matoa" one of the grounded and destroyed ships. In fact I have the baromoter from the Matoa and it still works perfectly.
This book really put my grandfather's stories in context of the overall storm. While I knew there were many ships sunk and lives lost (although not on his ship), I knew nothing about them. While a casual reader might find the jumping around from day to day and ship to ship a little confusing, for me it really filled in the blanks.
Ironically, four years to the day before this storm, my grandfather's two brothers died when the Marquette & Bessemer #2 went down in Lake Erie.
Could not put this down ... 2008-03-10
I loved this book and could not put it down. Not only did Brown provide a human interest story of the people involved but he provided insight into the state of weather prediction of the time. The book was full of interesting information. I could go on but you simply have to read it. I disagree with the reader who suggested he needed a central focus. The storm was the central focus.
Detailed and Interesting 2008-03-01
This is a great book for someone with an interest in the Great Lakes, meteorology or ship wrecks. It is a detailed chronological account of a monster storm that hasn't been matched in the Great Lakes for nearly a hundred years. It paints a pretty good picture of what it would have been like to have been on a ship during the storm. There are indexed pictures of each of the major ships involved, but I wish there were weather maps to show what was going on - it's hard to follow fronts and cells in your head when the story jumps around between the lakes.
A Must for Boaters and Residents Along the Great Lakes 2007-12-10
Residents of the Great Lakes region and boaters of all regions will find this book fascinating. The Great Lakes are one of North America's greatest treasures. Their beauty comes not just from their size but from their amazing diversity. From the rocky shores of Lake Superior to Michigan's majestic dunes, to the locks on the St Laurence Seaway these fresh water seas are an endless source of amazing sites and destinations.
From their creation to the present day, the constantly changing weather of the Midwest can change these bodies of water from nearly glass smooth to a source of death and destruction within hours. This is never truer than in the month of November. If you wish a greater understanding of the lakes and their weather this book is for you.
Just as one takes the grocer, and the steel in their car for granted; the lakes are often overlooked by many Americas. Although their commercial use has declined in recent years, these vital waterways provide America with her grain, steel and other bulk commodities. If you enjoy tales of common men facing the uncommon, the stories of the men that made a living on the lakes and survived the Great Storm of 1913 should not be overlooked.
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