There is something about this book that completely captivated me. Perhaps it was my morbid curiosity, about the details of how the South Fork dam was improperly maintained, how it broke, and the ensuing rush of a wall of water down the valley. Although Johnstown was completely demolished, there were enough survivors to help recreate much of the chronology of events. There are plenty of stories from individuals about life and death decisions, sometimes successful rescues, and sometimes unsuccessful. The story is at times riveting, as people are trapped inside houses that are uprooted and swept to a position against a strong bridge. And then a fire broke out, threatening all the people trapped in the maelstrom.

The dam was earthen, meaning that it was primarily made of dirt. Originally it was well constructed, and could have survived if properly maintained. The dam was repaired at one point in time, but the work was not planned or overseen by any engineers at all. So, when torrential downpours raised the water level, it was an accident waiting to happen. The dam was owned by a sporting and fishing club, whose members were among the richest and most elite in the country (Andrew Mellon, Andrew Carnegie, and the like). It was very interesting how the media pinned much of the blame on these people. The media regarded the upper economic class to be irresponsible, and to have little regard for the well-being of the working class who populated Johnstown. But the truth is that everybody who had a connection to the dam assumed that somebody else, someone knowledgeable and responsible, had overseen the repairs. And, most of the townspeople thought that the chiefs of industry would have overseen the work on the dam. There were, of course, a few people who had inspected the dam and realized that it was dangerous. But these people were ignored.

David McCullough is a historian who has written a number of books; all the ones I have read so far are excellent. He not only recites the facts, but he also tells the stories of the people in a dramatic way, and he interprets the lessons that we can draw from the tragedy. The main lesson, as described by the author, is that we cannot always assume that people act responsibly.

I did not read this book. I listened to the audiobook. Edward Herrmann does a very good job as a narrator.

McCullough spins a yarn and embellishes it with facts.

The telling of the events of preventable disaster of the great flood that occurred May 31, 1889. The South Fork Dam fails after several days of rain. The dam was mostly earthen and created a reservoir called Lake Conemaugh. The Flood killed an estimated 2,209 people and caused much damage. Clara Barton led the American Red Cross and many other volunteers rose up to help the victims of this great disaster. The victims never achieved any legal rewards for their losses but it led to the American law changing a fault-based regime to strict liability. I listened to the audio rendition read by Edward Hermann.

I couldn't put this book down, and I very nearly hyperventilated a couple of times. It's the story of an earth dam bursting in the mountains above Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889. Warnings were sent by telegraph but weren't believed or acted upon, so the flood took the people of Johnstown by surprise. Minutes later, the town was devastated and more than 2,000 people were dead.

The book delves into the history of the dam and the lake created by the dam, and talks about the fact that the dam hadn't been properly maintained in decades. At the time it broke, the dam and the lake were owned by an exclusive mountainside summer resort which catered to millionaires. (The resort stocked the lake to provide fishing to their privileged clients.) The resort owners couldn't be bothered with the safety of the dam or the people living directly downstream from the lake, and there were no governmental regulations which required them to maintain anything.

The book also talks about the dam's aftermath, especially about the instant mobilisation of the people in nearby Pittsburgh and other communities. The American Red Cross faced one of its first tests in providing relief to more than 20,000 displaced and traumatised people, and communities across the country and even across the world raised money to help the survivors.

This is non-fiction which reads like a novel and felt almost too real sometimes. I can recommend it for fans of disaster books.

Sehr detaillierter und doch mitreißender Bericht über ein unfassbar schreckliches und unnötiges Unglück, für das nie jemand gerade stehen musste.

When I was a kid growing up outside of Pittsburgh, our then home was forever being flooded by a near-by creek. Mother would always say, "It could've been worse. It could've been the Johnstown Flood," and then get down to the business of cleaning up the mess. Now I know what she meant.

I always like David McCullough's presentation of historical events. He did another excellent job on this event also.

This book tells what lead up to the flood on May 31, 1889 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a coal and steel town, and the aftermath.

Like today, many bad events happen because people do not step up and become accountable for their actions.
It was reported:
"We do not consider there is much cause alarm, as even in the event of the dyke breaking there is plenty of room for water to spread out before reaching here, and no damage of moment would result.
There it was, in one sentence. In the first place, the dam was probably sound, and even it it did fail not a great deal would happen since the dam was so far away. It was a strange piece of reasoning to say the least, but there it was in the evening paper for every one, including the alarmists, to read and talk about."

"Certainly there was every reason to have been concerned. The valley from the lake down to Johnstown had sides as steep as a sluice, and there was only one ways the water could go if the dam failed. Floods hit the area almost as regularly as spring itself. Johnstown rarely got through a year without water in the streets at least once, and often for several days at a time."

The book description of the flood makes real the power of water.

The description of the destruction from the water. It heart rending about the people who drowned but at the same a miracle the way others survived.

Then how and what is the best why to to serve those who survived as with all disasters but remember this is in 1889. But it is good to see the good see the good side of humans and pulling together to help.

The story also show bad journalistic reporting and the effects and good journalistic reporting--the benefits that good journalistic reporting can do and help.

"So while there is no question that an "act of God" (the storm of the night of May 30-31) brought on the disaster, there is also no question that it was, in the last analysis, mortal man who was truly to blame. And if the men of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, as well as the men of responsibility in Johnstown, had in retrospect looked dispassionately to themselves, and not their stars, to find fault, they would have seen that they had been party to two crucial mistakes.
1. The dame was the most dramatic violation of the natural order--setting in a whole series of chain reaction...
2. The people in the area assumed that the people responsible for their safety were behaving responsibly...

It was the most talked about event since the death of Abraham Lincoln. On May 31, 1889, a wave of water and debris came roaring down the mountains and all but wiped out the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. This book details the tragedy from start to finish.

The story of the flood is one of human spirit, although this book is not overtly one to hedge out every detail on the victims, it does give a broad overview of how the event unfolded, and some details of what became of survivors. Truly it is an American story, one of good will and charity as so much of the country is willing to contribute to the relief efforts, and of greed, as the cause of the flood can be directly traced to negligence.

I wonder if this story is still widely told across our Nation today or whether it has been downgraded to more of a localized story - surely Pennsylavania doesn't forget. But it is definitely a story of 19th century America worth remembering.

This is my second book by David McCullough. My first was 'The Wright Brothers', and I'm forced to rate that one higher than this. That book takes you on a grand adventure around the globe - Paris, London, Kitty Hawk, even a bicycle ride along the Great Miami River becomes a fun adventure - and through history. This book was much more focused on the main, eponymous event, and that gives the book a more cramped feel, making the approximately three hundred pages feel somewhat longer than it really was.

I couldn't decide if I would have wanted the book to be longer or shorter. The action was brilliantly described, I appreciated the detailed discussions of the technical background, the history was brilliantly researched, and McCullough's writing was engaging and entertaining as usual. But it still felt like it dragged along too much at times. Instead of reading exactly what each local paper wrote about the flood, I would rather have liked to read a lot more about the life of Andrew Carnegie and the Gilded Age. The discussion about who was to blame was extremely insightful, but I wish he would have delved into an equally detailed discussion about how the event played into the political mood of the time and America's attitude towards wealth and socialism. He does touch upon it briefly, but he could have gone more into surrounding events, like the Frick shooting or the Homestead strike, only briefly hinted at in this book. Perhaps also a little bit more information about how the event played out in Britain, and how it impacted attitudes there, which had already been reacting to the impact of the industrial revolution for several decades. There's also a lot of other tidbits that are only teased at - for example, the passing reference to the Molly Maguires. McCollugh misses many opportunities to turn this book into a richly layered adventure, but instead, it's an exhaustive, albeit vivid depiction of a singular event.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book - it's McCullough at his usual, but I found it lacking in some places and superfluous in others.

― “Most of the people in Johnstown never saw the water coming; they only heard it; and those who lived to tell about it would for years after try to describe the sound of the thing as it rushed on them.”
― David McCullough, The Johnstown Flood

Home to extremely diverse climates, the United States is highly vulnerable to a wide range of natural disasters. Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods, and blizzards can take lives, cause enormous damage, and destroy the infrastructure of communities. Who can forget the wildfire that destroyed Paradise California in 2018 or the massive destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina? The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is estimated to have taken the lives of between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities. The United States sees an average of 800 tornadoes each year; 75 percent of the world’s tornadoes occur in the United States.

The city of Johnstown had been built into a river valley on the Appalachian Plateau of southwestern Pennsylvania. The Little Conemaugh and the Stony Creek Rivers, which merged to form the Conemaugh River at the western end, drained a large watershed into the rivers from mountains above. At least once a year, one or both of the rivers overflowed into the streets sending the town’s residents scurrying to protect what they could of their homes and belongings.

Floods were a fact of life for residents of this community in the nineteenth century. Some of these floods were caused when heavy snows melted too quickly in the spring. Other floods could be caused at any time of the year whenever a heavy rain fell over the area. When heavy rains fell in the late afternoon of May 31, 1889, people were gathered in the upper stories of their homes, waiting out the worst of it, just as they had done many times before.

As residents of Johnstown prepared for their long wait, there was activity at the South Fork dam just 14 miles above the town. The earthen dam held back Lake Conemaugh, the pleasure lake created by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a prestigious club which included such famous men as Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. Those who were at the dam feared the dam would fail and were working frantically to prevent it. Their fears were justified; the dam contained 20 million tons of water before it finally gave way.

― “The water charged into the valley at a velocity and depth comparable to that of the Niagara River as it reaches Niagara Falls. Or to put it another way, the bursting of the South Fork dam was about like turning Niagara Falls into the valley for thirty-six minutes.”
― David McCullough, The Johnstown Flood

When the dam finally gave way, a great wave of water measuring 35-40 feet high rushed down the valley uprooting trees and demolishing houses and businesses in its path. By the time the wall of water hit Johnstown, residents could not even see the water for all the debris it contained. Later, residents would see homes and roofs floating past them, sometimes with people on top of the debris.

The force of the flood swept several locomotives weighing 170,000 pounds as far as 4,800 feet. Several bridges were washed out, but when the debris reached the Railroad Company’s Stone Bridge, debris piled up 40 feet high and over 30 acres. Perhaps sparked by hot coals from stove, the debris caught fire and burned for weeks. Four square miles of downtown Johnstown were destroyed.

Given the number of visitors in the area at the time of the flood, it was impossible to determine an accurate death toll. The official death toll was 2,209; many bodies were never found. The flood took the lives of approximately 100 entire families. More than 300 men and women were widowed. At least 1,600 homes were destroyed. The cleanup took more than 5 years.

News of the catastrophe spread across the nation and around the world. Nearly $4 million (approximately $130 million in today’s dollars) was collected for the Johnstown relief effort within the U.S. and foreign countries. Clara Barton of the newly organized American Red Cross, arrived in Johnstown with a team of 50 doctors and nurses on June 5, 1889. It was the first major peacetime disaster relief effort for the Red Cross.

While some readers might find it difficult to read about tragedies such as this, I find that stories such as these increase my capacity for empathy. David McCullough does an excellent job of describing the events of this tragic day and its impact on the lives of those affected.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. The audiobook was read by Edward Herman so it felt like Richard Gilmore was telling me a story. I was riveted by the floor and recovery even though the beginning dragged a little.

Could be subtitled Everything You Wanted to Know About the Johnstown Flood but Were Afraid to Ask.

Audiotape read by actor Edward Herrmann.

Here are some of my takeaways:

1. David McCullough deserves all of the praise heaped upon him. He is truly a great nonfiction writer for our time.

2. One of the one-star reviews complained about the boring opening. I'm guessing that person never finished the book. Looking into the details of what happened beforehand is necessary to understand how it happened. Not everyone is cut out to read good nonfiction.

3. People become complacent. They have trouble caring about the future. They are more worried about the moment. Whoever says "Live in the moment" needs to remind people that the future does arrive eventually. I believe we are hardwired through evolution to worry about being attacked at this moment and avoid doing what we have to protect our future. Witness climate change or security.

4. Part of the reason why the dam broke is that no one believed it could really happen to them.

5. Security is important. I have been involved in poor security in Vietnam. I was poorly trained and totally ignorant of what I was doing. Training by knowledgeable people is important. I apply this to the dam itself.

6. Good government is critical. I am totally weary of the government haters, libertarians, conservatives, and so on who think we can live without a good government. Most of the improvements in life came as a result of good government.

7. Let's repair our bridges. What are we waiting for? Are Republicans more interested in tax cuts for the rich?

8. My image of a flood is lots and lots of rain. Pretty soon it's up to my neck, and I scream. Then I see my neighbor in a rowboat with his two cats, two dogs, two birdies, and two children. I swim over to him and he hits me with a paddle. I dog paddle for a few minutes and then drown. In other words, I imagine a Noah style flood. I call this a dam disaster. That's "dam" with no "N".

9. Some train conductors rescued their passengers by leading them out to safety. One conductor fled for his life. Leaders are responsible for those under them. As a teacher, I was always willing to protect my student if anything went wrong. Captains go down with their ships unless they can be the last ones out.

10. Perhaps the greatest blame for the flood rests with a "hunting and fishing" club for "gentlemen." That means rich people. They wanted the dam and cut down trees that allowed a greater runoff. There are consequences for environmental damage.

11. As I speak rising oceans are taking over the Florida everglades. What will it take for us to take steps to attack climate problems.