Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes

In 2008, Hurricane Ike swept the Gulf of Mexico into Galveston, submerging 75 percent of the city, shredding entire buildings to splinters, and turning out rich and poor alike from their beloved island home. Scores of private interviews expose the politics of recovery, the destitution of loss, and the revelry of rebirth. Award-winning Galveston County Daily News reporters Leigh Jones and Rhiannon Meyers deliver the story about one of America’s largest hurricanes through the voices of those who lived it. Survivors who did return to the island waded through not only mounds of toxic debris, but also a dense and seemingly endless bureaucracy that threatened to stifle recovery before it even began. Like a phantom reincarnation of its 1900 ancestor, Hurricane Ike was the Infinite Monster that would forever cloud the Gulf Coast's future.