The Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation

by Scott Carney, Jason Miklian

Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE

AN AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTABLE BOOK IN NONFICTION

"[A] tremendous new book." —The Boston Globe

"Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick." —The Washington Post

The deadliest storm in modern history ripped Pakistan in two and led the world to the brink of nuclear war when American and Soviet forces converged in the Bay of Bengal

In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. The Vortex is the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution.

Bhola made landfall during a fragile time, when Pakistan was on the brink of a historic election. The fallout ignited a conflagration of political intrigue, corruption, violence, idealism, and bravery that played out in the lives of tens of millions of Bangladeshis. Authors Scott Carney and Jason Miklian take us deep into the story of the cyclone and its aftermath, told through the eyes of the men and women who lived through it, including the infamous president of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan, and his close friend Richard Nixon; American expats Jon and Candy Rhode; soccer star-turned-soldier Hafiz Uddin Ahmad; and a young Bengali revolutionary, Mohammed Hai.

Thrillingly paced and written with incredible detail, The Vortex is not just a story about the painful birth of a new nation but also a universal tale of resilience and liberation in the face of climate emergency that affects every single person on the planet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062985439
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	229,832
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Scott Carney is an investigative journalist and anthropologist, as well as the author of the New York Times bestseller What Doesn’t Kill Us. He spent six years living in South Asia as a contributing editor for WIRED and writer for Mother Jones, NPR, Discover Magazine, Fast Company, Men’s Journal, and many other publications. His other books include The Red Market, The Enlightenment Trap and The Wedge. He is the founder of Foxtopus Ink, a Denver-based media company. 

Jason Miklian, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Development and Environment, University of Oslo. Miklian has published over 60 academic and policy works on issues of conflict and crisis, based on extensive fieldwork in Bangladesh, Colombia, India, and the Congo. He serves on the United Nations Expert Panel on Business and Human Rights, has won several awards for his academic publications, and serves as an expert resource for various government knowledge banks in the US, UK, EU and Norway. Miklian has also written for or been cited in an expert capacity by the New York Times, BBC, The Economist, Washington Post, France 24, The Guardian, The Hindu (India) and NPR. 

Table of Contents

Maps x

Authors' Note xiii

Prologue: Blackout xvii

Act I The Vortex

1 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 3

2 Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan 17

3 Candy Rohde 24

4 Yahya Khan 31

5 Neil Frank 37

6 Yahya Khan and General Rani 43

7 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 51

8 Mohammad Hai 56

9 Candy Rohde 64

10 Mohammad Hai 70

11 Candy Rohde 79

12 Mohammad Hai 83

13 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 88

14 Yahya Khan 92

15 Candy Rohde 97

16 Neil Frank 102

17 Mohammad Hai 106

18 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad and Yahya Khan 110

19 Candy Rohde 117

20 Mohammad Hai 123

21 Jon Rohde, Mohammad Hai, and Candy Rohde 127

22 Neil Frank 136

23 Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 141

24 Mohammad Hai and Yahya Khan 145

Intermission: Yahya Khan and Tikka Khan 153

Act II Operation Searchlight

25 Yahya Khan 161

26 Mohammad Hai and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 167

27 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 172

28 Tikka Khan 175

29 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 179

30 Yahya Khan, Tikka Khan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 185

31 Candy Rohde and Jon Rohde 194

32 Yahya Khan and Tikka Khan 198

33 Candy Rohde and Jon Rohde 205

34 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 214

35 Candy Rohde, Jon Rohde, and Richard Nixon 228

36 Mohammad Hai 236

37 Yahya Khan, Tikka Khan, and A. A. K. Niazi 244

38 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad and Mohammad Hai 253

39 Candy Rohde 263

40 Yahya Khan and Henry Kissinger 273

41 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 281

Musical Interlude: Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger 287

Act III The Reckoning

42 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 297

43 Mohammad Hai 303

44 Candy Rohde and Jon Rohde 309

45 A. A. K. Niazi and Tikka Khan 316

46 Mohammad Hai and Malik Mahmud 320

47 Yahya Khan and Richard Nixon 326

48 A. A. K. Niazi and Yayha Khan 332

49 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 336

50 Yahya Khan and Richard Nixon 343

51 Captain Ernest Tissot and Rear Admiral Vladimir Kruglyakov 347

52 Zulfikar AH Bhutto, Yahya Khan, and Henry Kissing 352

53 Richard Nixon 355

54 A. A. K. Niazi and Yahya Khan 357

55 Rear Admiral Kruglyakov and Richard Nixon 362

56 A. A. K. Niazi, Richard Nixon, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 367

57 Mohammad Hai and Malik Mahmud 372

58 Candy Rohde and Jon Rohde 378

59 Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 380

60 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 385

61 Hafiz Uddin Ahmad 390

62 Mohammad Hai and Malik Mahmud 394

63 Neil Frank 398

64 Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlai 401

Afterword; The Gathering Storm 404

Acknowledgments 415

Note on Sources 419

Notes 425

Selected Bibliography 475

Index 481

Editorial Reviews

01/17/2022

In this disturbing study of the havoc wreaked by the 1970 Great Bhola Cyclone in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), journalist Carney (The Wedge) and political scientist Miklian (coauthor, India’s Human Security) look to the past to forecast the future of climate change. Forming in the Bay of Bengal in November 1970, the storm killed an estimated 350,000 to 500,000 people and exacerbated tensions between Bengali-speaking East Pakistan and West Pakistan, home to the capital city of Islamabad. President Yahya Khan had “promised that the days of Bengali discrimination were over,” but his botched response to the cyclone helped fuel the rise of the Awami League, a Bengali opposition party. In Pakistan’s first democratic election, held in December 1970, the Awami League took control of the national assembly in Islamabad and, with it, the prime minister’s office, but Khan refused to transfer power, triggering civil unrest, genocide, and, ultimately, the breakup of Pakistan. 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. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"[A] tremendous new book. . . . As much as The Vortex is about natural disasters and climate change, it is also about U.S. foreign policy: about how Washington’s expedient decisions can leave indelible marks on history thousands of miles away. . . . The Vortex should remind [the United States] of the need to stay vigilant with our partners, no matter the strategic benefits they may offer." — Boston Globe

"A fast-paced work of narrative nonfiction. . . . Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick. . . . Their mastery of documentary sources and previous scholarship is evident." — Washington Post

“If a butterfly flaps its wings, halfway across the world there will be a huge storm. . . . But what if you started with the storm? What unforeseen effects could that have? . . . The Vortex specifically focuses on how climate catastrophes can change the world in unpredictable ways.”  — NPR.com, "Book of the Day"

"The [vortex] in the title is literal and metaphorical. It refers not just to the political upheaval in late 1971 but also to Bhola, the cyclonic storm that barreled up the Bay of Bengal and hit the coast of East Pakistan. . . . The authors describe in harrowing detail nature’s assault on the island of Manpura. . . . Bhola was, in the authors’ telling, a perfect storm. . . . The authors tell [the story] with riveting panache." — Wall Street Journal

"Unbelievably harrowing." — NPR, Morning Edition

"Scott Carney and Jason Miklian craft top-notch narrative nonfiction from this complex story of natural disaster crossed with politics. . . . This is full of jaw-dropping stuff. . . . A readable, compelling narrative [that] arrives at a critical moment." — WhatsNonfiction.com

"Carney and Miklian reveal a long-concealed and profoundly shocking confluence of geopolitical crimes and crises. . . . As Carney and Miklian so dramatically recount, a natural disaster instigated a civil war and epic atrocities, the birth of Bangladesh, and, in a nightmarish twist, very nearly ignited a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. With propulsive narrative drive and intense specificity, the authors circle among a cast of riveting real-life characters. . . . Deeply involving and harrowing, this commanding work of reclaimed and clarified history is of urgent relevance."  — Booklist (starred review)

"Absorbing. . . . An essential history of the infuriatingly tragic creation of Bangladesh amid a devastating storm, genocide, war, political intrigue, and hope."  — Library Journal (starred review)

“[The Vortex] is a riveting, page-turning story of human devastation, political corruption, and individual bravery as well as a cautionary tale with universal relevance. . . . To those who may feel complacent about what happened a half-century ago in a relatively obscure part of the world, Carney and Miklian deliver a stark warning. . . . A powerful, timely exploration of an environmental and political tragedy.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[Carney and Miklian] look to the past to predict the future of climate change. . . . 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." — Publishers Weekly

“Among the greatest threats posed by climate change are dangerous supercharged storms powered by warming oceans. But their catastrophic destruction isn't limited to lives and property; sometimes even entire political ecosystems are at risk. In The Vortex, Scott Carney and Jason Miklian take us on a riveting journey into the deadliest storm ever. They reveal not only the devastating human toll but also how it triggered a horrific genocide and war. In the absence of meaningful climate action, climate disasters threaten to increasingly force humans into conflict, making The Vortex an urgent wake-up call for our shared global future.” — Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University, and author of The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet

“The catastrophic Bhola cyclone and the bloody liberation war it triggered in now-Bangladesh get the high-octane storytelling they deserve in The Vortex. A tsunami of a book that reveals the horrors of climate change and a US-backed genocide, as well as the joys of solidarity and national liberation, told through the stories of people who were right there on its frontlines.”
— Naomi Hossain, professor of global development, American University

“This book makes you feel like you're living through the traumatic birth of Bangladesh, a beautiful and resilient country that has overcome near-impossible odds. But if we don't quickly bring climate change under control, those experiences of our past could foreshadow our next great global tragedy. The Vortex is a stark reminder that the power of nature can either be tempered by human wisdom, or amplified by our shortsighted greed and hunger for power. An epic tale indeed!” — Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature, educator, environmentalist, and Co-founder of 350.org

"An utterly gripping story of international political intrigue, natural disaster, and the consequences for millions as refracted through the experiences of the ordinary, powerless people. The births of nations are rarely without drama and in the case of Bangladesh, though now an economic miracle, it began with all the tragedy that could befall one of the world's poorest countries. The Vortex provides timely instruction for the age of climate change in how politics and environmental pressures combine explosively." — Zia Haider Rahman, James Tait Black Memorial Prize–winning author of In the Light of What We Know

“This is a rich tale of a terrible cyclone and the human folly that deepened the tragedy. Grippingly written, it is both a powerful history of the creation of modern Bangladesh and an urgent warning about our precarious common future on our rapidly heating planet.”
— Gary J. Bass, author of The Blood Telegram

From the Publisher

"Carney and Miklian reveal a long-concealed and profoundly shocking confluence of geopolitical crimes and crises. . . . As Carney and Miklian so dramatically recount, a natural disaster instigated a civil war and epic atrocities, the birth of Bangladesh, and, in a nightmarish twist, very nearly ignited a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. With propulsive narrative drive and intense specificity, the authors circle among a cast of riveting real-life characters. . . . Deeply involving and harrowing, this commanding work of reclaimed and clarified history is of urgent relevance." 

Booklist (starred review)

"Unbelievably harrowing."

Morning Edition NPR

Among the greatest threats posed by climate change are dangerous supercharged storms powered by warming oceans. But their catastrophic destruction isn't limited to lives and property; sometimes even entire political ecosystems are at risk. In The Vortex, Scott Carney and Jason Miklian take us on a riveting journey into the deadliest storm ever. They reveal not only the devastating human toll but also how it triggered a horrific genocide and war. In the absence of meaningful climate action, climate disasters threaten to increasingly force humans into conflict, making The Vortex an urgent wake-up call for our shared global future.

Michael E. Mann

"A fast-paced work of narrative nonfiction. . . . Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick. . . . Their mastery of documentary sources and previous scholarship is evident."

Washington Post

"The [vortex] in the title is literal and metaphorical. It refers not just to the political upheaval in late 1971 but also to Bhola, the cyclonic storm that barreled up the Bay of Bengal and hit the coast of East Pakistan. . . . The authors describe in harrowing detail nature’s assault on the island of Manpura. . . . Bhola was, in the authors’ telling, a perfect storm. . . . The authors tell [the story] with riveting panache."

Wall Street Journal

"Scott Carney and Jason Miklian craft top-notch narrative nonfiction from this complex story of natural disaster crossed with politics. . . . This is full of jaw-dropping stuff. . . . A readable, compelling narrative [that] arrives at a critical moment."

WhatsNonfiction.com

If a butterfly flaps its wings, halfway across the world there will be a huge storm. . . . But what if you started with the storm? What unforeseen effects could that have? . . . The Vortex specifically focuses on how climate catastrophes can change the world in unpredictable ways.” 

"Book of the Day" NPR.com

The catastrophic Bhola cyclone and the bloody liberation war it triggered in now-Bangladesh get the high-octane storytelling they deserve in The Vortex. A tsunami of a book that reveals the horrors of climate change and a US-backed genocide, as well as the joys of solidarity and national liberation, told through the stories of people who were right there on its frontlines.”

Naomi Hossain

This book makes you feel like you're living through the traumatic birth of Bangladesh, a beautiful and resilient country that has overcome near-impossible odds. But if we don't quickly bring climate change under control, those experiences of our past could foreshadow our next great global tragedy. The Vortex is a stark reminder that the power of nature can either be tempered by human wisdom, or amplified by our shortsighted greed and hunger for power. An epic tale indeed!

Bill McKibben

"The [vortex] in the title is literal and metaphorical. It refers not just to the political upheaval in late 1971 but also to Bhola, the cyclonic storm that barreled up the Bay of Bengal and hit the coast of East Pakistan. . . . The authors describe in harrowing detail nature’s assault on the island of Manpura. . . . Bhola was, in the authors’ telling, a perfect storm. . . . The authors tell [the story] with riveting panache."

Wall Street Journal

This is a rich tale of a terrible cyclone and the human folly that deepened the tragedy. Grippingly written, it is both a powerful history of the creation of modern Bangladesh and an urgent warning about our precarious common future on our rapidly heating planet.”

Gary J. Bass

"An utterly gripping story of international political intrigue, natural disaster, and the consequences for millions as refracted through the experiences of the ordinary, powerless people. The births of nations are rarely without drama and in the case of Bangladesh, though now an economic miracle, it began with all the tragedy that could befall one of the world's poorest countries. The Vortex provides timely instruction for the age of climate change in how politics and environmental pressures combine explosively."

Zia Haider Rahman

★ 02/01/2022

In this absorbing chronicle, anthropologist Carney (What Doesn't Kill Us) and human rights researcher Miklian cover the final months of unified Pakistan in 1970. First, they document the Great Bhola Cyclone where nearly half a million perished, mainly due to the West Pakistan government's neglecting to warn residents. Within weeks, the military dictator General Yahya Khan overturned unified Pakistan's first free elections and led an invasion of East Pakistan, a predominately Bengali region, in which over 150,000 were killed and 250,000 women and girls were raped. In the U.S., the Nixon administration was aware of the atrocities but remained silent, the authors argue; instead, the U.S. provided arms and promised further support to the new dictatorship after Yahya brought together an historic summit between the States and China. Carney and Miklian also recount the heroic responses of Bengali people, a former soccer star, and two Americans living in Dacca in the aftermath of the storm and as they fought back against the atrocities. When it became clear that the Bengali revolutionaries would win their war of liberation from Pakistan, Yahya's generals killed scores of Bengali intellectuals and civil servants and destroyed infrastructure and the treasury to hamper independent Bangladesh's success. Carney and Miklian argue that Bangladesh's liberation was won not by Westerners (including former Beatle George Harrison, who organized a novel aid concert that was itself mired in legal issues) but by regular Bengalis, who overcame both West Pakistan and the United States. VERDICT An essential history of the infuriatingly tragic creation of Bangladesh amid a devastating storm, genocide, war, political intrigue, and hope.—Zebulin Evelhoch

Library Journal

★ 2022-01-11
How unscrupulous politicians exploited the effects of a catastrophic cyclone to commit genocide and nearly trigger a nuclear war.

Carney is an investigative journalist and anthropologist who spent six years reporting from South Asia for Wired, Mother Jones, and other publications, and Miklian is a senior researcher at the Centre for Development and Environment, University of Oslo. The authors begin by documenting the 1970 Bhola cyclone, a staggeringly destructive storm that killed roughly 500,000 people in the densely populated coastal area of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Then the authors turn to the complex aftermath, anatomizing the ruthless opportunism of West Pakistani politicians who sought to consolidate their power by exterminating ethnic rivals; the self-serving machinations of American and Soviet leaders whose interventions culminated in a nuclear standoff; the desperate efforts of Bengali resistance fighters to secure independence in the face of brutal oppression; and the often heroic attempts of aid workers to mitigate the catastrophic human toll. The authors effectively translate their exhaustive research into a compelling narrative, cleverly alternating chapters among the perspectives of a diverse range of protagonists, from Mohammed Hai, a humble young man who became a revolutionary, to international power brokers such as Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon. This is a riveting, page-turning story of human devastation, political corruption, and individual bravery as well as a cautionary tale with universal relevance. “This book is about climate change,” they argue convincingly, showing how rising global temperatures will continue to boost both the frequency and intensity of cyclones in many coastal areas, prompting extreme political volatility and large-scale human suffering. To those who may feel complacent about what happened a half-century ago in a relatively obscure part of the world, Carney and Miklian deliver a stark warning: “Our global climate future means not just flooded beach houses in twenty years and more expensive groceries next decade but an increasing likelihood of selective genocide and even global international war.”

A powerful, timely exploration of an environmental and political tragedy.

Kirkus Reviews