Johnstown Flood

By David McCullough

Johnstown Flood - David McCullough
  • Release Date: 2007-05-31
  • Genre: U.S. History
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 225 Ratings

Description

The stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation’s burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.

Graced by David McCullough’s remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in nineteenth-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly.

Reviews

  • The Johnstown Flood

    5
    By danieluniss53
    An excellent read. I enjoyed it all.
  • An Epic Lesson in American History

    5
    By Cyber_Grunt
    Things could have been so different, yet humankind never cease to amaze me by shooting themselves in the foot. McCullough does another informative intensive retrospect into this horrible disaster.
  • Great

    4
    By Hotblade666
    I wanted to read this book because natural disasters intrigue me. Great read.
  • The Johnstown Flood

    4
    By Burry R
    Great accounting.
  • Very Good

    5
    By better_bandit
    This is a very good read. When the flood water got to Johnstown, the authors description of what happened to the kid in the barn and the next 15 minutes of his life reminded me of the opening scenes of any James Bond movie. He was lucky to have survived due to quick thinking and reactions.