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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do the winds of the tropical storm suddenly weaken, causing forecasters to miscalculate the intensity and path of the storm?

2. Who came up with a compelling theory about the cause of the trade winds?

3. What does Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli discover?

4. What are swimsuits made from in 1900?

5. What kind of sleeper is Isaac?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Galveston like in 1900?

2. What characteristics do they know in 1900 that all hurricanes have in common?

3. What is the difference between Isaac and Joseph's points of view in the early morning hours of September 8?

4. How does Larson describe the center of a hurricane?

5. Why does Isaac believe that no storm could harm Galveston?

6. What does Captain J. W. Simmons of the Pensacola experience after his ship leaves Galveston the morning of the hurricane?

7. What might have saved thousands of lives in Galveston?

8. How does Moore treat the weather forecasting being done in Cuba?

9. Why was the creation of the Weather Service controversial?

10. Why does hail become an obsession of Isaac's?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is both surprising and tragic about how the residents of Galveston are first unaware of the storm and then revel in its onset? At what moment does the city seem to realize that this is going to end very badly?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the title of each of the major parts of the book, their subtle meanings, and the way they add to the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Was the hurricane truly Isaac's Storm? How much of the blame for the loss of life should lie at Isaac's feet?

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