Crisis on the Coast: The Risky Development of America's Shores

The authors, both award-winning reporters for The Philadelphia Inquirer, shared a fascination with the great Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 that slammed into the Atlantic Coast, devastating sections of the New Jersey Shore. They set out in April of 1998 to examine the history and impact of that storm. It soon became clear that the storm was a pivotal event in the development of the coast. Instead of retreating to higher ground, speculators and builders rushed to rebuild on the waters' edge, driving up land values. Now, billions of dollars in developments line the nations beaches, built on sand, awaiting the wrath of nature.