After the storm : stories of disaster and recovery

"John Rousmaniere is considered by many to have originated the storm-writing genre [...]. In his new book, his most ambitious work ever, he takes storm stories to a new level of revelation and universality. [...] In the book's interrelated stories, he tells of the hopes and choices that put sailors in harm's way, and then takes us into the gales themselves with authoritative knowledge of horrific weather and the split-second decisions that seafarers must make in appalling conditions. He explores the consequences of these disasters for survivors, rescuers, families, communities, and, in some cases, nations. And he shows how storm experiences shape reputations and beliefs, often creating myths springing from the hunger for explanation. [...] The stories include a tragedy that destroyed a prominent Boston family; the Pacific typhoon that stopped America's first war with Germany; the disappearance of the Portland - 'New England's Titanic'; the worst noncombatant disaster in U.S. Navy history; the stormy deaths of a poet (Percy Bysshe Shelley) and a visionary (Margaret Fuller); the gale that redeemed a prophet after nearly destroying him; the storm off Newfoundland that inspired the hymn 'Amazing Grace'; and two wrenching tales of derelict ships."--Provided by the publisher.