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 | | Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry ISBN-10: 9780684840024 ISBN-10: 0-684-84002-2 ISBN-13: 9780684840024 ISBN-13: 978-0-684-84002-4 Paperback 1998-04-02 Simon & Schuster Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award. | ||
Amazon.com Review When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape. While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself. | ||
Reviews | ||
Just right The book was exactly as described. It arrived promptly and was well-packed. I'm a happy buyer. | ||
Utterly Fascinating Account of Men vs. the Mississippi! What's left to say about a book after 100+ reviewers have already had their say? Given some of the insightful reviews posted on John Barry's book, there's probably little new to offer. Yet I felt Barry's book on the great flood of 1927 was so good I wanted to add my "atta-boy" to those countless other readers who found the book (1) a fascinating account of man vs. the Mississippi and (2) an absolute page-turner. I enjoyed this book more than any I can think of in recent memory and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fine writing! I found two things compelling about RISING TIDE. Barry did a marvelous job of giving life to the Mississippi. It is the book's main character, a remorseless, implacable force of nature as awesome as it is fear-inspiring. Barry's descriptions of river dynamics was utterly fascinating; the mental images they created truly frightening. And what an amazing cast of human characters connected to the river - Eads, Humphreys, Ellet, LeRoy Percy and his son not to mention Herbert Hoover. Giants and midgets, or perhaps, heroes and villains. Barry's account of Eads' life left me shaking my head in disbelief; what an incredible individual. Then there's Humphreys; what a wasted life, intelligence undone by ego. And LeRoy Percy, a fascinating character alternately admirable and repellent. Herbert Hoover, so aptly summarized as "the brilliant fool" and so on. In 40-odd years of reading, RISING TIDE is one of a handful of books I'd rated as a page-turner. Yes, it loses momentum in places but it's still a wonderfully written book that brings some long-events and characters into vivid life. | ||
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 Great reading! This book is a terrific combination of science, history and politics. It was hard to put down, and kept me interested like a good novel does. | ||
Book Club loved this book My book club of 7 very different women all loved this book. It is a riveting story of the development of the Mississippi River Delta area and how Louisiana came to be what it is today. The story starts in the 1920-30s and is a fascinating tale of politics, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, New Orleans, local politics, racial relations, the engineering of the Mississippi River, the beginnings of the Corps of Engineers and Civil Engineers, natural disasters, national politics, etc. Really an amazing book that we will not forget! Highly recommended for both its historical and cultural significance, and lastly - its just a good read and you will not be able to put it down. Makes for good book club discussion. | ||
Marvelous engrossing social history I am finding this book a fascinating, read. Only part way through book, but I find it riveting. Insights into the personalities of two engineering giant whose conflict shaped the approach to managing the river -- the wrong guy won. I am discovering things about the political and social history of the first half of the 20th century in America that are profoundly disturbing, but add new understanding of where we are today. Uncomfortable similarities between 1010 - 1930 US and today. Can't wait for the flood. I'm almost there. Oh by the way, it is brilliantly written! | ||