Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

The most powerful hurricane in United States history assaulted the Florida Keys in 1935, the darkest year of the Great Depression. With winds surpassing 200 miles an hour and tidal storm surges topping 20 feet, the "Storm of the Century" killed more than 400 people in a two-day span, devastating in particular a community of federally sponsored construction workers building a highway in the Florida Keys - and kicking up a far-reaching political storm of acrimony and controversy in its wake. Told from the alternating viewpoints of storm survivors, federal Works Project Administration employees, government officials, and local business owners, Storm of the Century is an ambitious work of investigative journalism and historical research, panoramic in scope and haunting in its emotional immediacy. Featuring previously undisclosed documents from the original government investigation, noted journalist Willie Drye's vivid account of the storm's rampage is accompanied by fascinating revelations about how federal administrators ignored early hurricane warnings - and why the ensuing disaster very nearly cost Franklin Delano Roosevelt the election of 1936. Drye's bracing narrative takes us back to the Florida Keys of the 1930s and delivers the first comprehensive explanation of how the economic crises of the Depression and the cruel mandates of political expediency collided full-force with the might of the hurricane itself and ultimately exploded into a national tragedy.