Rating: 
Summary: A Decent Storm Story
Review: There has been quite a glut lately of weather-related disaster books, and the quality of these books has varied widely. "Killer 'Cane," though a bit rough in places, is one of the better efforts in the genre. The book tells the story of the 1928 hurricane that devastated the Florida Everglades, killing perhaps as many as 3000 people when the Lake Okeechobee Dike gave away. Author Robert Mykle sets up his story well, providing a generous helping of historical background and meterological facts.Mykle spends much of the first half of the book describing everyday life in the Everglades in the early 20th Century. He particularly focuses his attention on several families who had settled there hoping to scratch a decent living out of the "mucklands," as drained Everglades swamps were called. Mykle the shows how poor forecasting, inept politicians and ignorance of the landscape combined with sheer bad luck to cause a tragedy that could have been greatly diminished if the victims had been given adequate time to evacuate the lowlands. Mykle is a decent storyteller, but the book does have a couple of drawbacks. Mykle largely ignores that great devastation that the 1928 storm wrought upon numerous islands in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, giving these other disasters only a cursory mention. He also has a tendency to repeat himself in the text and portions of the book are very poorly edited. Overall, a readable an interesting book for those who love a goodweather-related disaster tale.
Rating:
Summary: A Decent Storm Story
Review: There has been quite a glut lately of weather-related disaster books, and the quality of these books has varied widely. "Killer 'Cane," though a bit rough in places, is one of the better efforts in the genre. The book tells the story of the 1928 hurricane that devastated the Florida Everglades, killing perhaps as many as 3000 people when the Lake Okeechobee Dike gave away. Author Robert Mykle sets up his story well, providing a generous helping of historical background and meterological facts. Mykle spends much of the first half of the book describing everyday life in the Everglades in the early 20th Century. He particularly focuses his attention on several families who had settled there hoping to scratch a decent living out of the "mucklands," as drained Everglades swamps were called. Mykle the shows how poor forecasting, inept politicians and ignorance of the landscape combined with sheer bad luck to cause a tragedy that could have been greatly diminished if the victims had been given adequate time to evacuate the lowlands. Mykle is a decent storyteller, but the book does have a couple of drawbacks. Mykle largely ignores that great devastation that the 1928 storm wrought upon numerous islands in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, giving these other disasters only a cursory mention. He also has a tendency to repeat himself in the text and portions of the book are very poorly edited. Overall, a readable an interesting book for those who love a goodweather-related disaster tale.
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