The Johnstown Flood

Rating:
Summary: Interesting novel and excellent resource
Review: I became interested in the Johnstown Flood after having seen a documentary on it several years ago. I grew up in western Pennsylvania, and had always heard about the Johnstown Flood but didn't really know too much about it. After having read David McCullough's excellent book, I felt like I knew the town and people personally. I visited there afterward -- the Johnstown Flood Museum and the site of the lake and dam in South Fork -- both of which are worth a visit if you are interested in history. If you are planning to see either, read the book first!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: I was born in Johnstown and lived in Western PA until I graduated from college. I then moved to Washington, DC. About 4 years later, a coworked told me that he always wanted to visit Johnstown. At the time I couldn't understand why, so I asked. He went on to explain how he was reading "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough in Iowa in 1977 when he heard a radio announcement about the 1977 Johnstown Flood. I lived through the 1977 flood, and knew about the 1939 Johnstown Flood that my father lived through, but I knew little about the 1889 Flood. I bought this book the day after this friend recommended it and read it straight through cover to cover - I couldn't put it down. That weekend, I drove back to Johnstown and visited the Flood Memorial and the Flood Museum. I couldn't hold back the tears at these sites.

This book completely changed my opinion of the Johnstown area and its history. I can't believe how many natives of Johnstown have never read this book. I have recommended this book to many people and not one has ever told me he or she didn't sink themselves into the book and become part of the story.

I now work in Johnstown again. Every workday I drive by the stone bridge that was described so prominently in the book. In my mind I can picture the victims and the debris piled up against the structure. Sometimes I can even hear the water, the flames, and the cries for help. This book is that well written!

If you're from Johnstown and you haven't read this book . . . Shame on you! If you're not from Johnstown, still read this book. Then . . . come to Johnstown and see for yourself what David McCullough brought to life through his writing!

This is definitely a book you'll never forget.

Don't stop here. Read David McCullough's other books. And, if you get a chance to hear him speak, don't pass it up. He spoke at my commencement 13 years ago and I recently heard him speak again. He's a facinating man with a gift for making readers (and listeners) travel back through time to relive the past.

Rating:
Summary: McCullough is a National Treasure!
Review: This is the third book by David McCullough that I have read and he has never let me down. His research is extensive as usual. It is his ability to tell his story in such a was as to make history come alive however that makes David McCullough such a treasure.

The book starts out introducing the reader to several citizens of Johnstown. Some survive, others do not. For those who do survive the stories of their experences as the flood washed over them are amazing. You will be introduced to six year old Gertrude Quinn later in the book. She gets in trouble earlier that awful day for sitting on the porch with her feet in the water. To my suprise I found that the water was already past the flood stage in Johnstown before the dam broke. Gertrude's father was very worried about the rising water and had ordered his children to stay inside. For going out on the porch she got a couple of "quick spanks" and was hurried inside. When the real flood hit Gertrude's house was destroyed and she found herself floating on a mattress all alone. Soon a small white house floated by with a man clinging to the chimney. She called to him to help her but he ignored her after which she yelled at him that he was a terrible man and added, "I'll never help you." Gertrude did survive. These are the kind of stories that kept me reading this book long after I should have been asleep.

The dam itself had existed for years but had broken in a minor way once before and had never been rebuilt. That is until the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was formed. The dam was repared in a sorry way by the club's founder Benjamin Ruff. He even failed to replace the missing discharge pipes so that the lake's level could not be regulated. The press may have been too critical of Ruff's dam after it broke, one reporter calling it a "mud pile". Still the fact remains that the part of the dam that was swept away was the part Ruff had rebuilt. The old portion of the dam held firm.

There was much talk in Johnstown prior to the flood about the dam breaking. So much so that people had started to take it for granted that the dam was safe and ignored what little warning they did get.

If you are at all interested is American history, are a Weather Channel fan who sits in front of the tube waiting for some natural disaster, or if you like to sit up late and watch old disaster movies you will love this book. Even if you don't fit into any of those descriptions you would still probably like this book. Don't like history at all? This is like no other history book you will ever read. Give it a try!