The Vortex

A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation

By: Scott Carney, Jason Miklian

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

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.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Scott Carney and Jason Miklian (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

too visceral

I'm two-thirds through and learned a lot that I knew nothing about before. The book takes some liberties to be engaging, which I get because I am not sure I would have gotten into it otherwise. But at this point it is just getting too hard to finish emotionally. And because it takes some liberties on dialgoue I am concerned the things that will stick with me are not things that actually happened.

The best read -

An incredible read with different stories of a triumphant war, deception and a forgotten genocide.

Excellent story!

I had no idea these events of history occurred. Extremely informative and highly recommended. A must read.

Entertaining story of frightening true events

The Vortex is an incredible story that's more than just a highly entertaining read. It's an historically accurate account of events not many people have ever heard of; how Bangladesh became a sovereign nation. I was initially interested in the aspect of how a climatic catastrophe can alter history. With climate change happening before our eyes in real time, this book is a must read.

The Vortex is also a witty and entertaining story. I'm an avid audiobook listener and for me, the narrator can "make or break" my whole experience with the book. I had never listened to Vikas Adams read a book, but he is actually a really good narrator. He has a good pace and an authentic pronunciation for the south Asian names and phrases. But he does this without overwhelming someone like me who can't pronounce these myself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hopefully Scott Carney and Jason Miklian will write another book about a topic I know nothing about.

Amazing-Broad Implications

Must read! Incredible treatment of an overlooked and misunderstood era in the Global Cold War and Climate History.

It was a good book

I believe like most Americans in college at the time this story took place our focus was too much on Vietnam. This was a great education for me because I was not aware of all the stuff that happened. it’s sad to see that America was wants more on the wrong side of history.

One of the Best books this year!

I should state upfront that I was born in Bangladesh and lived in Dhaka until 1969 when I moved to the USA. That's why I was absolutely fascinated by the real story behind the Bangladesh Independence movement and the cyclone that hit the country just prior to the struggle for liberation from West Pakistan. Even though the events occurred almost 50 years ago , I was very angry and upset at the blatant genocide of the Bengalis by the Yayha Khan, Tikka Khan, Bhutto and the entire Pakistan army! The Vortex clearly shows that Pakistanis had a deep hatred of the Bengalis and deliberately undertook a program of killing as many Bengalis as they could. I also felt extremely grateful to Candy and John Rohde for all that they did to help the Bangalis! The massacre of the University of Dhaka students was horrible and evil beyond imagination! Tears came to my eyes when I read about the killing of Madhu who ran the canteen at the University. I graduated from the University of Dhaka and have very fond memories of spending long hours eating and drinking tea in Madhu's canteen. I felt very disappointed at the role Nixon and Kissinger played in supporting Yayha Khan but have new respect for Edward Kennedy for the helping the Bangalis.
My profound thanks to Scott Carney and Jason Miklian for writing this book and Vikas Adam did a wonderful job of narrating it!

Great piece of narrative non-fiction

Great book and performance by the voice actor. It was great having the proper pronunciations of the pakastani and Bengali words as I would have botched them reading it from a paper book. The history itself was griping and the authors presented the information really well. I got through the 16hrs in less than a week, it was that good.

Amazing read!

From the first pages of this book you will not want to put it down—for so many reasons! The writing is excellent, the story telling is next level, and figures with whom we journey in THE VORTEX are as compelling as any you’ll ever read or see on the movie screen. The research and exhaustive documentation by Scott Carney and Jason Miklian is the stuff of total pros. This is the kind of history that must inform out collective decisions today!

A true page turner

This story was and can keep you compelled for hours on end. The storytelling was phenomenal as well.