The authors describe The Vortex as a book of narrative nonfiction, and it certainly is that, the product of more than 200 interviews and multiple trips to Bangladesh, undertaken to help build dramatic (and occasionally theatrical) reconstructions of events ... The Vortex is at its best in its first third, where the authors describe in harrowing detail nature’s assault on the island of Manpura ... The rest of the story is well known, though the authors tell it with riveting panache.
Carney and conflict and crisis researcher Miklian reveal a long-concealed and profoundly shocking confluence of geopolitical crimes and crises ... Dramatic ... With propulsive narrative drive and intense specificity, the authors circle among a cast of riveting real-life characters, from a soccer star and a humble fisherman turned revolutionary heroes to a valiant humanitarian American couple to Yahya and his fascist generals and political rivals. Deeply involving and harrowing, this commanding work of reclaimed and clarified history is of urgent relevance.
Absorbing ... An essential history of the infuriatingly tragic creation of Bangladesh amid a devastating storm, genocide, war, political intrigue, and hope.
Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick, introducing a string of real-life characters — including a Pakistani soccer star and a heroic American expat couple — in the months and years before the storm, then following their travails as the cyclone ravaged the region ... But the core argument underlying “The Vortex” doesn’t seem like a tired phrase — it sounds like a blaring alarm
A disturbing study ... Carney and Miklian make a persuasive case that as climate change produces more frequent and deadlier storms, the world faces 'an increasing likelihood of selective genocide and even global international war.' Shot through with colorful character sketches and lucid explanations of South Asian politics, this is an urgent warning about the links between global warming and geopolitical turmoil.
he authors effectively translate their exhaustive research into a compelling narrative, cleverly alternating chapters among the perspectives of a diverse range of protagonists ... A powerful, timely exploration of an environmental and political tragedy.
