Rating: 5 out of 5
I found the book very interesting altogether, though I rather picked it up because I wanted to read something by David McCullough and this seemed like an interesting subject. I was very pleased with the author’s thoroughness and good general style, which is very good as I have a number of his other books waiting.
What’s this one about then? The Johnstown Flood relates to an episode of combined natural and human disaster, whereby the latter amplifier the former. A dam, built long before, had been taken up in a different use compared to what it was originally planned for, and it’s mechanisms for self-sustenance (i.e., the spillway) altered so there was no way for water to naturally leave the reservoir. What happens in this case when the water level reaches the top of the dam?
What happened at this dam was that it gave way, and the water flowed out in a huge mass, storming into the valley below. How this wave hit every hamlet between it and Johnstown, how intrepid engineers raced the wave with their steam engines, and how it in the end wiped the town from the map are topics that the author discussed in superb detail, often falling back on witness statements of one kind or another.
What I took away from this is the never ceasing way people are willing to help each other. To hear about guys willing to jump into the maelstrom to help out another really touches one’s spirit. These episodes and many other cases of human kindness in the face of adversity were in many ways a positive sign of how we can come together in times of need.
I enjoyed this book very much.
