Isaac's Storm

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Part 1

Reading Check

1. When did the historic hurricane hit Galveston?

2. Where is Isaac Monroe originally from?

3. What essential device does Evangelista Torricelli invent that later helps predict hurricanes?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Galveston referred to as “the New York of the gulf”?

2. What important observation regarding the nature of hurricanes does William Redfield make while in Connecticut?

3. Why did the city of Galveston forestall the decision to construct a seawall?

Paired Resource

Galveston & Texas History Center

This resource provides primary source documents including photographs, manuscripts, oral histories, maps, death records, and a story map of the events of the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas.

• This information connects to the theme of American Hubris at the Turn of the Century.
• After exploring this resource, what is something you learned that points back to the theme of American Hubris at the Turn of the Century?

“The Great Storm“

This resource provides information on the storm, the aftermath, and the rebuild, including the building of the Galveston Seawall.

• This information connects to the theme of American Hubris at the Turn of the Century.
• What was the purpose of the Galveston Seawall? In what ways could it represent the overconfidence of Galveston’s inhabitants? How does it benefit the town today?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Which two characters does Larson introduce in this section who experienced the horrors of the 1900 hurricane?

2. In what direction did Moore and other US Weather Bureau experts believe the hurricane would go?

3. What does Father Lorenzo Gangoite see that confirms his suspicion that the hurricane is gaining strength and size?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did the United States disregard the weather reports from Cuba?

2. Why does Captain Halsey of the Louisiana head out into the gulf from New Orleans?

3. What does Dr. Young observe on Friday evening that persuades him that a significant storm is on the way?

Paired Resource

“Why Hurricanes Are Earth’s Most Powerful Storms“

• This 6-minute PBS video provides helpful visuals to explain how hurricanes form.
• This source connects to the theme of American Hubris at the Turn of the Century.
• The science behind the formation of hurricanes was unknown to Isaac. What information from the video do you think Isaac might have found most persuasive, perhaps causing him to sound the alarm sooner?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. Who does Dr. Young warn through telegram not to return to Galveston?

2. How do the children of Galveston initially react to the storm?

3. How many people did Isaac claim to warn about the impending weather?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What news do Helen and August Rollfing bring to their mother, Louisa, that makes her think the storm is worse than projected?

2. What happens at Ritter’s Café?

3. How does Rabbi Henry Cohen respond to the people displaced by flooding?

Paired Resource

“Texas History 101”

• This article from Texas Monthly explains the political and financial rivalry that ensued between Galveston and Houston at the turn of the 20th century.
• This source connects to the theme of The Effects of Politics on Severe Weather.
• Despite the devastation all around him, Joseph asks Western Union, the telegraph service, to keep the devastation of Galveston “absolutely confidential” from Houston (Part 3). What impact did politics have on the decisions made by the US Weather Bureau?

“Great Man Theory”

• This reference guide from The Decision Lab explains Thomas Carlyle’s theory that great leaders are born, not made.
• This source connects to the theme of Interrogating the Great Man Theory of History.
• Based on Carlyle’s theory, does Isaac qualify as a “Great Man”? How does Larson debunk this theory?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. Where does Louisa take her children?

2. What is the significance of the barometer’s reading of 28.48 observed by John Blagden?

3. How many people gathered in Judson Palmer’s house?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Dr. Young save himself as his house starts to float away?

2. What happens to most of the orphans from St. Mary’s?

3. Why does Joseph Cline’s dog leap back into the sea?

Paired Resource

“Don’t Be Blinded by Your Own Expertise”

• This article from the Harvard Business Review explores how being an expert in a particular area can actually impede performance through overconfidence and lack of curiosity.
• This source connects to the theme of American Hubris at the Turn of the Century.
• What are the warning signs of “the expertise trap” identified by Sydney Finkelstein? How does Isaac’s expertise make him overly confident? Does a lack of curiosity contribute to his decision to downplay the storm?

Parts 5-6

Reading Check

1. What do the passengers on the train from Houston first see approximately six miles from the city of Galveston?

2. How many people out of the 50 who took refuge in Isaac’s house survive?

3. How tall will the seawall be?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Galveston’s celebrated “racial harmony” begin to erode?

2. Who is Clara Barton, and how is she treated when she arrives in Galveston?

3. What becomes of the relationship between Isaac and Joseph?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

• This nonfiction book revisits the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It follows the stories of two very different men: Daniel Burnham, the American architect tasked with creating the World Fair, and H. H. Holmes, the notorious serial killer.
• Shared themes include American Hubris at the Turn of the Century and Interrogating the Great Man Theory of History.
• Shared topics include American history and hubris.
• The Devil in the White City on SuperSummary

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

• This true story recounts the October/November 1991 “No-Name Storm,” later named “The Perfect Storm,” that ravaged the entirety of the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. Junger’s account focuses on the crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail and their families before and during the fatal event.
• Shared topics include hurricanes, natural disasters, and man versus nature.
• The Perfect Storm on SuperSummary