After Ike: Aerial Views from the No-Fly Zone (Volume 17)

Gulf Coast Books

by Bryan Carlile

The day after Hurricane Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, photographer Bryan Carlile was in a helicopter, working a service contract as a first responder. He took with him a native Texan’s good memories of the Gulf Coast but brought back images that tell the sobering story of this massive and historic storm.   After Ike includes more than one hundred aerial photographs Carlile took of the hurricane’s grim aftermath accompanied by Carlile’s eyewitness captions. In some places, Carlile is able to show images from “before Ike” that bring home the magnitude of the changes wrought to both natural and human habitats.  In a thoughtful, personal essay, Andrew Sansom, who was raised on the Texas coast, reflects on the realities of living in “Hurricane Alley.”  

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Heather Alderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in and around Galveston. Great photos and introduction. Interesting to see the Galveston island before, immediately after Ike and today.

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived through Hurricane Ike, I really appreciated Bryan Carlile's book showing After Ike, Aerial Views from the No-Fly Zone. It brought back many memories on that weekend in September seven years ago and reminds me how we live on the edge of danger from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. I appreciated the focus on Bolivar Peninsula which bore the brunt of Ike but was pretty much ignored by the media because it is a low key vacation spot. One motel a few restaurants, one store. Not much activity on Bolivar. But those of us who have vacation homes there love it. And Bryan Carlile showed the before and afters quite well.
He should make a return visit as the place is booming. Of course, we're now approaching the worst part of hurricane season. He captured the damage to Galveston and all of the other areas but my primary interest was in Bolivar and locating my damaged home. Thanks, Bryan, for doing after Ike what we could not do!

[Chris Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim reminder of the realities of living on the Gulf Coast. It's mainly a photo book, but there is a nice preface that gives some local perspective to the photos.