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Mary Cable
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The Blizzard of 88 Kindle Edition

by Mary Cable (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 597 ratings
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"Well-researched, well-written, and highly engaging"
- National Review

Here is the dramatic story of the Blizzard of 1888, which caused havoc up and down the East coast of the United States. Award-winning author Mary Cable recreates - in all its human and natural drama - the three-day debacle that began on the night of Sunday, March 11, 1888. We meet the heroes and villains alike as they struggle through the mounting snow and icy winds to keep the wheels of civilization from grinding to a halt. The Blizzard of 88 is a moving and dramatic history in the tradition of David McCullough's classic The Johnstown Flood.
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  1. Print length
    146 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    October 6, 2017
  5. File size
    4473 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On March 12, 1888, one of the worst blizzards in the nation's history struck the East Coast from Washington to Maine and wreaked havoc on both land and sea. Particularly hard hit by the three-day storm was New York City, which more than any other urban center of the time relied on modern technology, and Cable (Lost New Orleans) concentrates on that city. Although the actual snowfall was less than two feet, furious winds drove it into drifts as high as 20 or 30 feet; ice was a further problem, paralyzing the extensive elevated railway system and, together with the wind, bringing down electric and phone wires. People struggled to get to work. An intriguing story expertly told. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The blizzard of 1888 still makes for fascinating reading after 100 years. Popular historian Cable details life on the East Coast during the three days in which 21 inches of snow fell and winds gusted up to 50 miles an hour. Men, women, and children struggled through the storm in a world that was far enough advanced technologically to be shut down by the weather, but not advanced enough to overcome the snow and ice. Many went out into the storm because they feared losing their jobs or really wanted to work; some just didn't know what was happening. Neither situation is as likely today. Amazing stories of life and death fill this readable social history of a great disaster. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Pat Ensor, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Terre Haute
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0768FM48Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Word City, Inc.; 1st edition (October 6, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4473 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 146 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 597 ratings

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Mary Cable

Mary Cable

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
597 global ratings
Family Memory
4 Stars
Family Memory
My father and grandfather both from NY area would refer to any big snowstorm as “like the blizzard of ‘88” although neither were alive at the time. However the 2 adults seated each photo plus the tall young man (my great uncle) did experience it. The book is provides many stories of horror and hardship affecting the Mid-Atlantic region. My interest of this natural disaster peaked after reading book “The Children’s Blizzard” which was terrible and also occurred the same year in the MidWest. Ironically, 102 years later on THE EXACT SAME DATE, the MidAtlantic experienced “the Storm of the Century” March 12, 1993. I experienced that one and the conditions were very similar to what was described in Blizzard!
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Top reviews from the United States

Kate Kat
4.0 out of 5 stars Who knew?
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2023
Verified Purchase
Fascinating account of a forgotten event, this well researched and detailed story of a horrific blizzard staggers the imagination. Informative and thoroughly enjoyable.
One person found this helpful
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C Wm (Andy) Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Coverage of the Legendary Blizzard but the Human Interest Touch is a Great Benefit to Writers Seeking Authenticity
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.
Kin Hubbard

Demakis, Joseph. The Ultimate Book of Quotations (p. 367). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

INTRO: The Blizzard of 88 is a fairly short, yet very detailed, history of the legendary blizzard that tested residents of the United States East Coast. In one sentence, it is an interesting read not only in regards to the blizzard, but in gaining an understanding of the daily lives of the people in that region. Ponder this: in the generation just before the automobile, what were the streets of New York City like and what was the general state of sanitation? Read on to learn more...

*** LANGUAGE ***

BLUSH FACTOR No issues of concern here. People of all ages and all walks of like will find the writing clear and free of profanities.

WHY I DECIDED TO READ THIS BOOK: I wanted to get some feel for the time period and wanted to learn something about the legend of that disastrous period.

THREE: Does the opening grab hold of me and keep me turning the pages as I end each chapter?

Q - How was this book obtained?
A – Bought on Amazon.

Q - Are there a lot of typos/misspellings, grammatical errors or other editing failures?
A – No. The editing is well done.

Q - Is this a fast, easy read or is it more of a leisure read?
A – At just 123 pages, this is a quick read.

To give a feel for the editing, and the style and flow of this work, I am posting a brief excerpt below.

Excerpt

‘…Grocers kept bins of coal for sale in front of their stores and cluttered up half the sidewalk with tin-roofed storage sheds. Store windows protruded several feet into sidewalk space, as did awnings, with the poles to hold them up. There were also bootblacks’ stands and newspaper kiosks, as well as the carts and baskets belonging to assorted peddlers. Refuse was swept or thrown from houses into the gutters, and open barrels of ashes sat on the sidewalks for days, awaiting collection. Because New York City blocks have no back alleys, refuse collections have always been made in front, and in 1888, collections were somewhat haphazard. Littering was not a crime, and even well-bred people thought nothing of disposing of newspapers by simply dropping them for the wind to take hither and yon.

The pavements themselves were often in a state of disarray because of building, wrecking, or digging. The raised rails that the horsecars ran on prevented wagons from passing each other. Near the ferries and the Brooklyn Bridge, wagon owners left their vehicles in the streets overnight while they took their horses home with them. Worst of all, a heavy rain was apt to cause an overflow of sewage. Most pavements were made of cobblestones where sewage and offal of all kinds sank down into the cracks and stayed until sunny weather dried it into dust.

Monday, March 12, happened to be the day chosen that year by the Police Department (which took care of sanitary matters when it could find time) for a biannual thorough street cleaning. Gangs of laborers were supposed to report that morning to sweep and scrub the streets and collect wagonloads of refuse and filth to be dumped into the rivers.

Street-cleaning techniques in New York at that time were no worse than they were in London, and perhaps better than in Calcutta, but definitely behind Paris and many other major cities. One trouble was that the job of street cleaner was looked down on by all other workers. Laborers were hired by the day at the lowest wage of $1.20 for ten hours of work. A man could often make as much by sweeping crossings on a free-lance basis and collecting pennies from passersby, or by sending his children out to do the same.

On Monday morning, it soon became apparent that New York’s streets were not going to be cleaned that day. Nor was it useful to start shoveling the snow, because the wild wind immediately blew it around again. The wind not going to be cleaned that day. Nor was it useful to start shoveling the snow, because the wild wind immediately blew it around again. The wind also caught up the dust and ash, swirled it with icy snow, and flung the whole concoction into the faces of people and beasts. As some of those who experienced it said later, it was “like a barrage of…”…’

Cable, Mary. The Blizzard of 88 (Kindle Locations 414-440). New Word City, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Bottom Line:

Definitely worth reading for the main topic, but also worth the price just to understand the times and how people lived their daily lives. Definitely a must for any historical fiction writer trying to pen an authentic novel set in the second half of 19th Century America.

Five stars out of five.

Comments regarding your opinion of this book or of my review, whether favorable or unfavorable, are always welcome. If you buy the book based on my review and become disappointed, especially, I do want to know that and I want to understand how I can improve as a book reviewer. Just please be polite.

Thank you.
28 people found this helpful
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Karl
3.0 out of 5 stars Needs a Map
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2023
Verified Purchase
The author has done a lot of digging and presents an exhaustive description of challenges faced by NY and other nearby areas. But for those of us not intimately familiar with NY City, it is hard to follow. A map of the city in in 1888 with road and other transportation would have been very helpful.
The gold standard for this topic is George Stewart's novel "Storm." It is a classic, so well written that it is much of the reasons that storms are named today.
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Silva
4.0 out of 5 stars Age of Confidence
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2022
Verified Purchase
I love books like this one. It was well researched. And read like a novel. There were so many short stories of hardship and triumph. It was a look into how people coped back then with just grit.
One person found this helpful
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Jean M
5.0 out of 5 stars Super reading of history
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
Liked this book very much. So well narrated. Very interesting to see how the blizzard had such lasting effects on transportation, communication.
The historical detail is fascinating.
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NJseabreeze
4.0 out of 5 stars Family Memory
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020
Verified Purchase
My father and grandfather both from NY area would refer to any big snowstorm as “like the blizzard of ‘88” although neither were alive at the time. However the 2 adults seated each photo plus the tall young man (my great uncle) did experience it. The book is provides many stories of horror and hardship affecting the Mid-Atlantic region. My interest of this natural disaster peaked after reading book “The Children’s Blizzard” which was terrible and also occurred the same year in the MidWest. Ironically, 102 years later on THE EXACT SAME DATE, the MidAtlantic experienced “the Storm of the Century” March 12, 1993. I experienced that one and the conditions were very similar to what was described in Blizzard!
Customer image
NJseabreeze
4.0 out of 5 stars Family Memory
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020
My father and grandfather both from NY area would refer to any big snowstorm as “like the blizzard of ‘88” although neither were alive at the time. However the 2 adults seated each photo plus the tall young man (my great uncle) did experience it. The book is provides many stories of horror and hardship affecting the Mid-Atlantic region. My interest of this natural disaster peaked after reading book “The Children’s Blizzard” which was terrible and also occurred the same year in the MidWest. Ironically, 102 years later on THE EXACT SAME DATE, the MidAtlantic experienced “the Storm of the Century” March 12, 1993. I experienced that one and the conditions were very similar to what was described in Blizzard!
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6 people found this helpful
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Gary
5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing reality that reads like exciting fiction.
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019
Verified Purchase
Read this on a frigid night and you'll need to wrap yourself in a warm blanket. Or if you're someplace warm and want to cool off just begin reading.
This is a book that's an easy read that tackles more than an historic winter storm. It's also a revealing piece on how one faced storms when storm tracking and weather predicting was in its infancy. The author keeps you on the edge of your seat as you read about harrowing moments, heroism and survival. It also shows how nothing kept people from making an effort to get to work. It was "show up" or lose your pay and possibly your job.
A well written book that gives you a different bit of history.
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BBMc
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not fulfilling
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2022
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This was a series of reminisces from 1930’s literature. The book is vignettes, usually a paragraph long, of one character. There was no linear information on when the snow began, how much fell, how cold was it or how hard the wind blew. There was no clear timetable for events. There was one little story after another. They were good stories, but left me wanting much more information on the storm, itself. The US Army had an effective weather service and it was even mentioned in the book, briefly, but no more details were forthcoming. Mostly it is tales of the transportation system breaking down and children being sent out on errands. I read about messages being sent to train stations and back and forth to newpapers and elsewhere,but no one mentioned who was doing all that walking to get these messages relayed. Were they killed? Were they hospitalized? Etc.
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Top reviews from other countries

George E. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars the blizzard of 88.
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
I had never heard of that Blizzard.It was interesting to read about how people helped each other and how some people did not know about it and sent their children to run errands.
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GOOD GUIDE
3.0 out of 5 stars Did not enjoy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
I was disappointed all the book talks about are the railways of the time. That could have been a book in itself,.
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D. Duthie
5.0 out of 5 stars History which should never be overlooked
Reviewed in Australia on July 12, 2020
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This was a compelling account of a time in history.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing Story
Reviewed in Canada on December 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
This book will make you happy that the wintry weather you see in your backyard isn't very much worse. Well written and fascinating.
Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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W GROSKOPF
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting chronology
Reviewed in Canada on February 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
Interesting chronology of one of the worst blizzards in history. Unfathomable!
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