Big Weather : Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America

by Mark Svenvold

• ISBN13: 9780805080148
• ISBN10: 0805080147
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2006-05-02
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

'Svenvold clearly paid his dues in Tornado Alley . . . Wherever he touches down, he informs and amuses, and marvels not only at the weather, but also at the stranger side of Middle America.' -National GeographicWhy do some people chase the kind of storms that would send most people running for their lives? Why does devastating weather maintain a primal hold on our collective imagination?With Matt Biddle, an Ahab-like veteran storm chaser, as his guide, Mark Svenvold draws a portrait of a culture enamored by extremes during a 6,000-mile journey through the heartland. Along the way, he encounters an assortment of eccentric characters, including a duo named the Twister Sisters and an IMAX filmmaker who drives an armor-plated truck. And they're all after one thing.At the heart of the excitement are the awe-inspiring events themselves-a tornado that levels a small Nebraska town, wild twisters that spin cars into the air and, in the case of unlucky Donald Staley, destroy three of his homes in succession. An entertaining narrative brimming with stylish prose, Big Weather is a wryly observed meditation on the weather and the subculture of catastrophilia, the culture and commerce of catastrophic weather.

Author Biography

Mark Svenvold’s first book of nonfiction, Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw, was a Book Sense 76 pick. Poet in residence at Fordham University, Svenvold has won The Nation’s “Discovery” Award for poetry. He lives in New York City with his wife, the novelist Martha McPhee, and two children, Livia and Jasper.

Table of Contents

One: Becalmed: Dreaming of Yevtushenko	1	(27)
Two: Weather Talk	28	(37)
Three: Children at Play	65	(21)
Four: Catastrophilia	86	(20)
Five: Paparazzi del Cielo	106	(37)
Six: Present Progressive	143	(20)
Seven: A Citizen's Brigade	163	(23)
Eight: Good-bye, Wakan	186	(24)
Nine: Weather Risk and the Great Folly	210	(18)
Ten: How Firm Is Your Foundation?	228	(26)
Eleven: What Would Jesus Drive?	254	(11)
Notes	265	(12)
Acknowledgments	277	(2)
Index	279

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