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Monster Tornado
Monster Tornado
Oct 4, 2024 5:21 PM

Author:Mark Levine

Monster Tornado

It was April 3, 1974 and the United States was in turmoil. Crime was soaring, unemployment and inflation were out of control, the Vietnam War had just come to a demoralising end and the soon-to-be-disgraced President Nixon was on his way out of office. Then, over a sixteen-hour period, nature stepped forward with its own display of mayhem, as an unprecedented outbreak of 148 tornadoes descended on the country. The destruction wrought was horrifying - hundreds killed, thousands of homes demolished, a billion dollars in losses sustained.

Amidst this chaos, acclaimed journalist Mark Levine follows the devastating path of a twin set of F5s - the rarest, and most deadly, category of tornado, and their impact on a rich cast of intertwined characters. Ordinary lives are transformed in one bewildering, terrifying instant: a pair of teenage lovers caught while driving on a dark country road; a Vietnam veteran trapped at home with a newborn baby; a sheriff caught in the line of fire twice in rapid succession; a black preacher with a past of dire hardship struggling to protect his family. Other figures enter the story from the broader cultural scene: Hank Aaron, on his way to challenging baseball's home run record amid racist death threats; Patty Hearst, whose image as kidnapping victim is undergoing a radical shift; Richard Nixon, intent on using the storms for his political advantage; and a memorably eccentric scientist, known as Mr Tornado, who regards the 'Superoutbreak' as the apotheosis of his scholarly life.

Monster Tornado provides a vivid and remarkable portrait of a unique point in American history - a time of incredible and unsettling convergence, where weather and people collided, and the fortunes of a series of characters, obscure and famous, would change forever.

Reviews

Vivid, empathetic ... there's no chance of doing any fighting back against a tornado, as Levine expertly shows

—— Daily Mail

An interesting perspective of the political climate at that time

—— The Times

In a sweeping and thoroughly engaging narrative, Mark Levine reminds us that extreme weather has always been with us, and has always had an impact that reaches well beyond the lives it shatters directly. Monster Tornado reads like a novel, but is a masterpiece of careful reporting

—— Mark Bowden, author of , Black Hawk Down

When it comes to conveying the crushing human toll of an American twister, Levine has few peers

—— Washington Post

Mark Levine's American Tornado reads like tornado: powerful, riveting, and violently beautiful. Once the storm starts there is no chance of putting the book down. This is not just the story of explosive weather, but of one of the most explosive times in our history

—— Ann Pratchett, author of , Bel Canto

Mark Levine has written a compelling meditation on those moments in which the atmosphere clothes itself in uncanny potency and visits the abodes of men

—— Marilynn Robinson, author of , Gilead: A Novel

James Webb writes like Scots-Irish warriors take to the battlefield - with power and purpose, with courage and clarity. Born Fighting delights and inspires . . . he has written an extraordinary book

—— Randall Wallace, writer of Braveheart

Popular history at its finest

—— Booklist

An accessible and insightful overview of modern financial crises, incorporating both historical detail and thoughtful analysis

—— Kenneth Rogoff , Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund

Linda provides many with a very readable summary of all the great crises, but also more importantly derives the big lessons and how to have a better policy framework to avoid getting caught up in too much " this time it is different" when the next big risks appear

—— Lord Jim O'Neill , Author of The Growth Map and former Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management

A masterclass in spotting the early signs of a crisis. Linda Yueh expertly shows how we can understand these crashes better when they occur and even prevent them from happening in the future. A accessible yet rich study of our most turbulent economic years

—— Nouriel Roubini , author of Megathreats

This well-written book draws out the many different ways in which markets can crash and she's willing to chance her arm predicting the next one

—— Sir Vince Cable , author of How to be a Politician and former UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2010-2015

A timely and instructive book on the big financial and economic crashes. It comes in the midst of a global polycrisis that threatens the economic and social well being of all especially the World's poorest citizens. Linda Yueh makes a heroic effort to tease out lessons fundamental to managing future crises. The question is: Will we learn?

—— Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, 2003-2006 and 2011-2015

Troubled times call for a historical perspective and this is the historical perspective we need

—— John Kay , author of Radical Uncertainty and former member of the Independent Commission on Banking of the UK Government, 2010-2011

Demonstrates how that old saying - "this time is different" - is both so true and so wrong!

—— Lord Stephen Green , former CEO and Chairman of HSBC and UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, 2011-2013

Crashes are an integral part of the history of capitalism. The last century has seen plenty of them. All crashes begin with debt-fuelled euphoria and end in disappointment. Yet how bad that disappointment turns out to be also depends on where in the economy the crash falls and how determined and credible are the responses. In this lively and blessedly brief book, Linda Yueh does a lovely job of explaining the history and drawing the necessary lessons

—— Martin Wolf , Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times

This excellent overview identifies the ingredients that are specific to each crisis and common to all. She provides a lucid assessment of the efficacy of policy responses, high-lighting credibility as a necessary condition for successful resolution

—— Lord Nick McPherson, , former Permanent Secretary of the UK Treasury, 2005-2016, and Chairman of C. Hoare & Co.

"Why did nobody notice?" Was the question the Queen asked about the 2008 financial crisis. It was a good question. All financial crises and crashes have their own characteristics but they also often involve certain common features:- Irrational exuberance, Speculative frenzy, Greed and over confidence usually supported by high levels of gearing.

Linda Yueh's new book will be a timely reminder to governments and regulators of the warning signs of future crises

—— Lord Norman Lamont , former Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1990-1993

Timely, entertaining and full of useful insights

—— Gideon Rachman , Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times

Renowned economist Dr Linda Yueh looks at past financial crashes - from the Wall Street Crash to the dot com boom and bust and the Covid pandemic - to explore what we can learn from them in this entertainingly written book.

—— i, Best New Books in May

Entertaining, well-written . . . [Yueh] has come up with a three-step framework to help spot when financial problems are brewing and identifies where the next may occur.

—— Ben Wright , Telegraph

A gifted writer (een begenadigd schrijver)

—— De Telegraaf

The book which impressed me most, and which I most enjoyed, this year is Andrew Roberts's George III. It is based on such astonishingly wide-ranging and original research that I felt I was reading about the period for the first time. Unknown facts and wonderful anecdotes had me turning the pages with a curiosity I seldom feel when reading about supposedly familiar events. Andrew Roberts is remarkably even-handed, and there is no special pleading on behalf of this genuinely misunderstood and wilfully misrepresented monarch who did his best to be a good constitutional ruler during a very choppy period in British history.

—— Adam Zamoyski , Aspects of History Books of the Year

meticulously researched ... an eye-opening portrait of the man and his times

—— Publishers Weekly

A deep, expansive study not only of George III but also of the political and social complexities of England and the United States during his reign.

—— Kathleen McCallister , Library Journal

a deeply textured portrait of George III [and] a capacious, prodigiously researched biography from a top-shelf historian.

—— Kirkus

an outstanding and surprisingly moving portrait of a misunderstood king, distinguished by refreshing revisionism but also illuminated by deep humanity.

—— Simon Sebag Montefiore , Spectator World Books of the Year

Roberts is in a rich vein of form at present; after bestselling books on Napoleon and Churchill, yet another masterpiece has tumbled from his pen.

—— Dan Jones , The Good Web Guide

Roberts has been justly acclaimed as one of his generation's leading historians ... His new biography seeks to challenge popular myths about the monarch. ... Roberts, employing the same flair for original research and ability to convey historical context and vivid prose that he used in previous books ... thoroughly debunks all the assumptions most people have about the king.

—— Jonathan Tobin , Washington Examiner

exhaustively researched and written in accessible, non-jargony prose. Meticulous and forensic, it sometimes reads like a defense counsel's case for his client ... Roberts's defense of George III, though, is the fullest, the clearest, and likely to be the most definitive.

—— Robert G. Ingram , National Review

Roberts has painted a masterful portrait of a patriotic, diligent and cultivated monarch. ... This new biography is a treasure-house of detail. ... George III is an engaging, humane and at times beautiful testament to the importance of giving our ancestors a fair hearing.

—— Harrison Pitt , European Conservative
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