JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for the historically minded.
Review: I was first exposed to David McCullough while taking a Pennsylvania history class. A required reading was The Johnstown Flood, and on a day off, I sat on the porch and prepared to dig into what I was sure would be a boring book. Boy, was I wrong. I found the book to be factual, yet readable, and most amazingly, the book was able to make the characters come alive as the must have been in 1889. All in all, a fabulous accounting of a terrible event, and the people who persevered.

Rating:
Summary: Better than fiction
Review: I was watching a show one time where a boy was asked to explain why he liked his grandfather's stories so much. He said he liked them because they were not only interesting but true. This book by David McCullough is just one example of why this boy made such a profound statement. The Johnstown Flood is one of the worst natural disasters in US history and what makes it all the better is that McCullough tells it like it is a story and not a boring history event. He seems to do this in all his books and this is why he is one of my favorite historical writers along with Steven Ambrose. McCullough not only gives the background of this horrid event but describes the event in such vivid detail that you feel like you must have been there. It isn't really a difficult book to read so if you have a teenager give this book to him/her to get a sense of real history. This is a great story that can be used to get better aquainted with the lesser told stories in the history of the United States.

Rating:
Summary: excellent, gripping
Review: I went to Johnstown as a child, and rode the incline plane. When i recently heard about this book I had to read it. An amazing, horrifying story, gripping and well written.

Rating:
Summary: AN OKAY Book
Review: It takes a long time, with some irrelevant facts, to get to the actual problems with the dam, the fishing club, and the members of the town. Bottom line: It was a disaster the could've been avoided. I am sure a quick encyclopedia article would do just fine for anyone looking for data on this topic. Sorry! The Boorklyn Bridge Book was GREAT!

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: McCullough's book is as thorough and all encompassing as most of his other works. He treats the town as if it were a person, retelling personal and public histories of the town and the builders. The central story of the dam breaking is surrounded by the histories of the townspeople, immigrants, politicians and the powerful businessmen who were members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.

All aspects of the destruction of the dam and the town are investigated, from the engineering to the political forces in place. McCullough's central thesis develops out of these forces quite nicely, that the reason that the dam broke was as a result of the wiling ignorance of the townspeople and the irresponsibility of the members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club to fix known problems with the dam over the years. While I agree that the townspeople had some responsibility in overseeing the maintenance of the dam, they were unwanted outsiders for the most part to the big shots who owned the dam and to the "professionals" who were hired to maintain the dam. In fact, when the leading townspeople tried to warn the owners of the dam about problems with it, their opinions were rebuked and they were turned away.

Despite the misgivings I have with the final outlook of the book, it is well-researched and elegantly written.

Rating:
Summary: he should be required reading...
Review: McCullough's research skills are rivaled only by his storytelling skills. He knows how to put the reader in the middle of the action, the flood, and the aftermath. He covers everything from the creation and transfer of the dam to the culpability of the Pittsburgh steel barons. I'll be reading all of his books now.

Rating:
Summary: The difinitive book on the Johnstown Flood
Review: Meticulously researched and written, The Johnstown Flood is not only a book about the horrific disaster, but a richly crafted piece of social history. David McCullough delves into the social changes, the newly rich upper class, the immigrants striving to survive and the new middle classes. It also is a story of early modern engineering's hubris and the unwillingness of men to see their mistakes. McCullough weaves these themes and the lives of everyday people into a compelling story of the eventual destruction of Johnstown. The accounts of the flood are gripping, graphic and heartrending. I first read this when I was 10 and it was included in a Reader's Digest Condensed Books. I recently purchased it, after having reread it several times( the last time in preperation for reading a fictionalized account of the people of Johnstown). This is the definitive Johnstown book.

Rating:
Summary: Great read, even if you're not a history buff
Review: Most people don't realize that the Johnstown flood was one of the worst man-made disasters in U.S. history. This story will stay with you a long time.

Rating:
Summary: WOW - A Fabulous Book
Review: My family is from Western Pennsylvania, and I've heard stories about The Johnstown Flood since I was a child, especially from my grandparents and their friends. Still, I never knew the details of how and why it happened. Now I do. This is an excellent account of how late 1800's class structure, neglect, and downright denial led to this tragedy. (Reminded me somewhat of how The Titanic happened.) I felt as if I were right there watching it all unfold, and I could just picture the 23 foot high wave coming, pushing houses, locomotives and debris before it. The image of the train racing the wave towards town with it's whistle screaming in warning is one I'll never forget. I couldn't put this book down!

Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to a great historian
Review: On May 31 1889 the Pennsylvania mining community of Johnstown was suffering a heavy rain, which was not unusual: the area had often been hit by floods in the past. But what happened on that particular day was one of the most devastating tragedies in American history. Johnstown was at the valley confluence of two currents, the Conemaugh River and Stony Creek. Fifteen miles upland was a large dam holding back a reservoir called Conemaugh Lake. On this lake a group of wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists (including Andrew Carnegie) had built a vacation resort, the lake itself being used primarily for sailing. (The site was a Sunday excursion for Johnstown citizens.) The safety of the earthwork dam had long been questioned by both the owners of the resort and the Johnstown Tribune. The danger signals had been tolerated. But on that Friday afternoon, as the heavy rains continued, the dam "simply moved away"; and 20 million tons of water were released, pouring down into the valley below. After several miles, the water had become a forty-foot high wave, filled with the debris of smashed houses, boxcars, and uprooted trees. When this inland tsunami crashed into Johnstown it created almost total destruction (which took roughly ten minutes), causing $17 million in property damage and a death toll of 2,200. (I was surprised to learn that this potential for a blockbuster has been fictionalized on the screen only once, as a silent film in 1926.) The American historian David G McCullough used this story for his first published book "The Johnstown Flood" in 1968. Though not on a scale with his later histories, this is a fascinating account of a calamity waiting to happen, the terrible consequences, and the bitter aftermath. Mr McCullough likes BIG stories -- e.g. enormous construction projects ("The Great Bridge") and pivotal lives ("Truman", for which he won the Pulitzer Prize). Already, in this early work, he displays his ability to contrast human pathos with spectacle. Brisk yet in carefully-researched detail, the narrative runs smoothly from the opening exposition, through the deluge, to the quietly sorrowful ending. His chapter headings sound almost like a plot synopsis: Sailboats on the mountain ... Rush of the torrent ... "Run for your lives!" ... In the valley of death. The book is illustrated with contemporary photographs and drawings, many of them concentrating on the incredible demolition. There is also a list of the victims of the flood, in many cases whole families. I'm not sure how many books have been written on this famous disaster, but certainly none could be more compellng than Mr McCullough's.