<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Swept Away: The best digest on the Johnstown Flood
Review: After a brief visit to the Johnstown Flood National Park in Pennsylvania, I started digging at my local library for books and videos. I found this book, which was also for sale in the Park gift shop.I found this to be very readable. Lots of photos and illustrations that broke up what could have been a very dry, but dramatic text... as a result, this book works for BOTH kids and adults. It frequently refers back to the definitive work from 1968, David McCullough's "Johnstown Flood"... but is a much briefer book designed to tell all sides of the story and illustrates it as well. From the graphic cover painting, to the wide margins and easy to read type face, this book has been positioned to stand on most school library shelves.... The only problem is that it won't stay there long enough for you to find it. A fine gift for those of any age who are interested in the Greatest Flood disaster in the USA, that helped to launch the American Red Cross to national prominence. Definitely consider this book! Reasonably priced, very accessable, recently published in 2000. *(Now, I'm looking for the other books in the series....)
Enjoy! PS: I also found the PBS America Experience "The Johnstown Flood" video and thought it did a WONDERFUL job of telling the tale... with emphasis on the life around the lake and townspeople's lives BEFORE the flood. The actually depiction of the flood is fairly short, and comes late in the program, but very worth waiting for. The original short 20 minute documentary won an academy award, and the hour-long expanded video will not disappoint. WARNING: Avoid the Descriptive Audio for the visually handicapped version, unless you need help. The skillful narration sandwiched between the original narrator's voice is distracting and spoils the mood. [David McCullough does a stand-up intro and close at the National Park display too!)
But do watch any version you can find at your library, or order it from Public Broadcasting Service or your local station.!!!!)
Rating:
Summary: Swept Away: The best digest on the Johnstown Flood
Review: After a brief visit to the Johnstown Flood National Park in Pennsylvania, I started digging at my local library for books and videos. I found this book, which was also for sale in the Park gift shop. I found this to be very readable. Lots of photos and illustrations that broke up what could have been a very dry, but dramatic text... as a result, this book works for BOTH kids and adults. It frequently refers back to the definitive work from 1968, David McCullough's "Johnstown Flood"... but is a much briefer book designed to tell all sides of the story and illustrates it as well. From the graphic cover painting, to the wide margins and easy to read type face, this book has been positioned to stand on most school library shelves.... The only problem is that it won't stay there long enough for you to find it. A fine gift for those of any age who are interested in the Greatest Flood disaster in the USA, that helped to launch the American Red Cross to national prominence. Definitely consider this book! Reasonably priced, very accessable, recently published in 2000. *(Now, I'm looking for the other books in the series....)
Enjoy! PS: I also found the PBS America Experience "The Johnstown Flood" video and thought it did a WONDERFUL job of telling the tale... with emphasis on the life around the lake and townspeople's lives BEFORE the flood. The actually depiction of the flood is fairly short, and comes late in the program, but very worth waiting for. The original short 20 minute documentary won an academy award, and the hour-long expanded video will not disappoint. WARNING: Avoid the Descriptive Audio for the visually handicapped version, unless you need help. The skillful narration sandwiched between the original narrator's voice is distracting and spoils the mood. [David McCullough does a stand-up intro and close at the National Park display too!)
But do watch any version you can find at your library, or order it from Public Broadcasting Service or your local station.!!!!)
Rating:
Summary: The story and lessons of America's greatest flood disaster
Review: On May 31, 1889 the South Fork Dam gave way and a 20-million-ton wall of water reaching 70 feet high raced down a mountainside and destroyed the industrial town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Beyond the fact that this was the deadliest flood disaster in American history with over 2,200 people losing their lives, I knew very little about this famous disaster, although I was always struck by the fact this great flood took place in the mountains of Pennsylvania. But then I was raised on television images of towns being flooded because of rain-swollen rivers or hurricanes, and not because a dam breaks, which always smacks of some sort of Hollywood movie. However, this look at the Johnstown Flood by Jim Gallagher for the Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications series gives young readers a comprehensive look at the city of Johnstown, the causes of the flood, the extent of the death and destruction, and the heroism and determination of not only those who survived the flood but those who tended the survivors as well. Gallagher begins by telling of the storm that dropped rain on the Johnstown area that Decoration Day as the 30,000 people living in communities in the Conemaugh Valley went to sleep that night. The book then goes back and tells the story of Johnstown as a mountain boomtown with iron and steel mills as well as abundant railroad links that made it an industrial center. Gallagher also tells of the construction of the dam that would play the fateful role in the disaster and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a.k.a. the Bosses Club, that was developed as a summer resort for the elite of Pittsburgh society and their families (including Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon). After a chapter detailing the rising of the water, the South Fork Dam gives way and a 40-foot high way of water moving 10-15 miles per hour rushed down the valley towards Johnstown. Gallagher details the progress of the water and the resulting destruction as other small towns were washed away and a mountain of debris was carried along with the water. Black & white photographs taken of the aftermath of the flood provide mute evidence to what happened, but it is Gallagher's descriptions that make the disaster seem real. The final two chapters of the book deal with the aftermath of the flood as families were reunited and the survivors organized to deal with the emergency, and the reforms that resulted. One of the heroes emerging from the story was Clara Barton, whose Red Cross volunteers established the organization's reputation working for five months in Johnstown and distributing nearly a half million dollars' worth of blankets, clothing, food, and cash. Gallagher also details what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did to prevent this disaster from being repeated in the Conemaugh Valley. I appreciate Gallagher's sense of irony: the book ends talking about how you can still visit some of the original cottages from the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club that still stand in Saint Michael.
In keeping with the focus of this series there is an emphasis on the important reforms and ramifications resulting from the Jonestown flood. This includes not only how the safety of dams throughout American was reexamined but also at how legislation was passed regulating new dam construction. Young readers will get a sense that thousands of lives have been saved because of these changes, which is exactly the point the editors want to underscore. A land developer wanted to create a lake for his exclusive resort club in the Allegheny Mountains, ignored warnings from experts, and cut corners in reconstructing an earthen dam. Other volumes in this series look at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of 1911, the "Titanic," the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the "Hindenburg," Pearl Harbor, and Terrorism.
Rating:
Summary: A book that presents the story well to young readers.
Review: The 1889 Johnstown Flood is a story that is frequently difficult to tell to children, but with this book, Mr. Gallagher succeeds. He tells the story honestly, and, most importantly, he does not "dumb down" the story. Text is well researched and presented, and the illustrations are expertly chosen. After using this book, which both kids and adults should enjoy, the reader will have a true appreciation for why the Johnstown Flood is such a significant story, and one that cannot be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: A book that presents the story well to young readers.
Review: The 1889 Johnstown Flood is a story that is frequently difficult to tell to children, but with this book, Mr. Gallagher succeeds. He tells the story honestly, and, most importantly, he does not "dumb down" the story. Text is well researched and presented, and the illustrations are expertly chosen. After using this book, which both kids and adults should enjoy, the reader will have a true appreciation for why the Johnstown Flood is such a significant story, and one that cannot be forgotten.
<< 1 >>
| 
