{"product_id":"the-childrens-blizzard-isbn-9780060520762","title":"The Children's Blizzard","description":"\u003cp\u003e“David Laskin deploys historical fact of the finest grain to tell the story of a monstrous blizzard that caught the settlers of the Great Plains utterly by surprise. . . . This is a book best read with a fire roaring in the hearth and a blanket and box of tissues near at hand.”  — Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Heartbreaking. . . . This account of the 1888 blizzard reads like a thriller.”  — Entertainment Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe gripping true story of an epic prairie snowstorm that killed hundreds of newly arrived homesteaders and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJanuary 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across the Great Plains of Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal snow and hurricane-force winds. Temperatures plunged as an unprecedented cold front ripped through the center of the continent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the next morning, some five hundred people lay dead on the drifted prairie after a devastating natural disaster, many of them children who had perished on their way home from country schools. In a few terrifying hours, the hopes of the pioneers had been blasted by the bitter realities of their harsh environment. Recent immigrants from Germany, Norway, Denmark, and the Ukraine learned that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith the storm as its dramatic, heartbreaking focal point, The Children's Blizzard captures this pivotal moment in American history by tracing the stories of five families who were forever changed that day. In this powerful work of narrative nonfiction, David Laskin has produced a masterful portrait of a tragic crucible in the settlement of the American heartland.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLaskin’s meticulous account of this Gilded Age tragedy reveals:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePioneer History:\u003c\/b\u003e The harrowing true story of settlers on the American frontier, lured by the promise of free land only to face an unforgiving environment they could not control.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eExtreme Weather:\u003c\/b\u003e A minute-by-minute account of January 12, 1888, when an unseasonably mild day exploded into a hurricane of snow, trapping hundreds of adults and children without warning.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Survival Story:\u003c\/b\u003e The intertwined fates of five immigrant families whose lives were forever changed by a few terrifying hours, a pivotal event in 19th-century history.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHistorical Nonfiction:\u003c\/b\u003e Meticulously researched and deeply moving, this portrait of an epic prairie snowstorm reads with the urgency of a thriller.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e | \u003cp\u003eThousands of impoverished Northern European immigrants were promised that the prairie offered \"land, freedom, and hope.\" The disastrous blizzard of 1888 revealed that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled, and America’s heartland would never be the same.\u003c\/p\u003eThis P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. | \u003cp\u003e“The American prairie has its indelible epics —the luck-charmed journey of Lewis and Clark, the Oregon Trail tales and travails—and \u003cem\u003eThe Children’s Blizzard\u003c\/em\u003e adds to our trove of western lore the nearly lost story of a mighty blow of nature. David Laskin’s telling of the immense 1888 blizzard that struck the homestead communities of the Dakotas and beyond is elegant in its research and eloquent in its recountings of prairie dwellers facing impossible weather. This is a haunting book about the odds stacked against the settlers of the American heartland.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIvan Doig, author of This House of Sky\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Unearthing the stories buried in a killer snow, David Laskin compellingly recounts a devastating 1888 snowstorm.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Heart-breaking. . . . This account of the 1888 blizzard that killed more than 100 children in the Great Plains reads like a thriller. . . . Laskin reminds us that the pioneer life wasn’t so much romantic as it was deadly.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laskin has written a fascinating account of the day the wind finally did what it always promises to do on those bleak Dakota prairies. . . . [He] has chosen his subject brilliantly, for something did change in that winter blast.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A terrifying but beautifully written book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003cem\u003eThe Children’s Blizzard\u003c\/em\u003e, David Laskin deploys historical fact of the finest grain to tell the story of a monstrous blizzard that caught the settlers of the Great Plains utterly by surprise. Using the storm as a lens, Laskin captures the brutal, heartbreaking folly of this chapter in America’s history, and along the way delves into the freakish physics of extreme cold. This is a book best read with a fire roaring in the hearth and a blanket and box of tissues near at hand.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eErik Larson, author of Isaac’s Storm and The Devil in the White City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laskin excels at making these Plains pioneers live again, whether they survived or succumbed to the storm. . . . This book about flatlands is sharp enough that the thoughts and failings of mountain climbers become crystal-clear.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A tale of horror and heroism: gripping, terrifying, and definitely worth the read. . . . What makes \u003cem\u003eThe Children’s Blizzard\u003c\/em\u003e amazing are the survival stories from people stranded in the sub-zero whiteout.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eManchester Union Leader\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A heartrending tale. . . . With a flair for novelistic detail, Laskin brings many of these settlers back to life as he follows the fortunes of immigrant families. . . . Every page of the engrossing narrative explores the uncomfortable reality of human frailty when confronting insurmountable odds.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Terrifying and often vivid. . . . Laskin skillfully weaves together a clear report and explanation of the meteorological event with harrowing accounts of slow death, loss, and, survival. This book should be read by anyone wishing to fathom the terrible cost of settling that desolate, dangerous, and beautiful land.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laskin pulls no punches. . . . \u003cem\u003eThe Children’s Blizzard\u003c\/em\u003e is a welcome contribution to the historical literature of American life and westward expansion.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Told through the awed, disbelieving eyes of storm victims. . . . \u003cem\u003eThe Children’s Blizzard\u003c\/em\u003e recounts a poignant, heartbreaking chapter in American history. Laskin draws on firsthand accounts of the snowstorm to produce an intimate, human-scale tale of climatic cataclysm.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeattle Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Terrifying and often vivid…. Laskin skillfully weaves together a clear report and explanation of the meteorological event with harrowing accounts of slow death, loss, and, survival.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Like a ride down a steep, icy hill on a toboggan, the story gathers speed. . . . Even though you know how the tragic story ends with its inevitable conclusion, it’s a tale to savor.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Des Moines Register\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“David Laskin has produced a book at once terrifying and engrossing about the epoch blizzard that left an estimated 250 to 500 dead across the frigid plains of Nebraska and the Dakota Territory.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Lincoln Journal Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“David Laskin gives us the complete story in all its fascinating, often harrowing detail. . . . He has contributed a vital addition to the lore of Western immigrant pioneering.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An adroit, sensitive drama and a skillful addition to a popular genre. . . . A perceptive presentation, evoking lives unnoticed by history but for the tragedy of this storm.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A gripping chronicle of meteorological chance and human folly and error. . . . Novelistic [and] consistently affecting. . . . A rewarding read.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887577034981,"sku":"NP9780060520762","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780060520762.jpg?v=1730226998","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-childrens-blizzard-isbn-9780060520762","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}