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Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century
Miramax
June 2007
On Sale: June 6, 2007
336 pages
ISBN: 1401352200
EAN: 9781401352202
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
It was April 3, 1974. Crime was soaring. Unemployment and
inflation were out of control. A costly war had just come to
its demoralizing end, and an unpopular President was on his
way out of office. Then, over a sixteen-hour period, nature
stepped forward with its own display of mayhem: an
unprecedented outbreak of 148 tornadoes, covering thirteen
states in the heart of the country, from Michigan to
Mississippi. Hundreds of people were killed, thousands of
homes demolished, and a billion dollars in losses sustained.
Sixty-four of the tornadoes would be classified as severely
violent; six belonged to the most rare, most deadly
category: F5, or "incredible tornadoes." Like the best nonfiction, F5 is a brilliantly crafted
page-turner that reads with the immediacy of a novel,
telling a harrowing story of natural disaster against the
backdrop of the turbulent 1970s. Acclaimed journalist Mark
Levine follows the heart-wrenching fate of a rich cast of
intertwined characters -- ordinary Americans whose lives are
transformed in a terrifying instant. A pair of teenage
lovers are caught while driving on a dark country road; a
Vietnam veteran is trapped at home with a newborn baby; a
sheriff finds himself in the line of fire twice in rapid
succession; a black preacher with a past of dire hardship
struggles to protect his family. Other figures enter the story from the broader cultural
scene, including Hank Aaron, on his way to challenging
baseball’s home run record amid racist death threats; Patty
Hearst, whose image as kidnapping victim is undergoing a
radical shift; Richard Nixon and George Wallace, both intent
on using the storms to their political advantage; and a
memorably eccentric scientist, known as Mr. Tornado, who
regards the "Superoutbreak" as the apotheosis of his
scholarly life. Gripping and revelatory, F5 braids the story
of the shattering outbreak with images of social upheaval
and individual heroism in a stunning, unforgettable read.
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