On January 12th, 1888, a sudden severe storm swept into the upper U.S. prairie states. It had been an unusually mild morning and most people were out and about. Then, temperatures dropped 18 degrees in just 3 minutes, and a blinding mix of hurricane-force winds and horizontal snow created near-zero visibility. By the next day, hundreds were dead, including 100 children who had been trying to make it home from school. The country’s sense of prairie life would never be the same.
Writer David Laskin has drawn on oral and written accounts to tell the story of that massive storm in his new book, “The Children’s Blizzard.” In this radio diary, he reads a passage from his book, and explains how the blizzard of 1888 marked a turning point for the American prairie.
Guests:
David Laskin, author of the new book, “The Children’s Blizzard.”
Wow how lame and rediculous a waste of time indeed!!!!!!!
Posted by Johnny, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:42 pm ESTI’ve heard better stories from a downed deer!
Posted by Johnny, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm ESTdead turkeys tell a better tale!!!!!
Posted by Johnny, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:44 pm ESTA piece of debree took my eye out in a blizzard thats worse then a few a children freezing to death.
Posted by fred, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pm ESTI cant believe a guy wasted his life writing about this silly topic!!!!!!!
Posted by Karry, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:48 pm ESTI cannot believe the immaturity of Johnny, Fred & Karry. Are these people for real? (actually, my guess is all of these asinine comments are by one person – Johnny)
1.) Learn to spell correctly, and learn correct grammar usage, too.
2.) David Laskin did not waste his life. If you knew anything, you’d know he’s written numerous novels
3.) A few children didn’t freeze to death — HUNDREDS of people froze to death in this storm.
4.) This occurred over a hundred years ago. If we don’t learn and study our past, we can never learn to progress in our future.
Kudos to Mr. Ashbrook for having Mr. Laskin on his program.
Posted by Lori, on January 28th, 2009 at 3:06 pm ESTI just finished reading Mr. Laskin’s book. It was compelling reading, and I found myself transported to the days of the storm, really caring about what happened to the characters Mr. Laskin had so carefully introduced to me. It was a wonderful read!
Posted by Avis, on April 5th, 2009 at 9:12 pm EDTI think it is very interesting and devastating. AND screw whoever thought losing an eye is worse than children freezing to death. That is ridiculous and obviously you have a black hole in the place where your heart should be. GROW UP!!
Posted by Leigh, on April 27th, 2009 at 11:26 am EDT