Flooded: Requiem For Johnston

     In case you haven't heard about the Johnstown Flood of 1889, it's another example of the greed of the wealthy extracting a terrible cost on the poor.

     In the middle of the 19th century an artificial lake was created on the side of a mountain towering over Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Eventually it was purchased by wealthy businessmen and an exclusive private retreat was built around it. Its waters were held back by an earthen dam badly in need of repairs...

     ...which were never made even though they had been told that if the dam gave way the unleashed waters would wipe out Johnstown...

     ...and May 31, 1889 that's what happened. A huge wall of water capable of uprooting trees and carrying houses and railroad cars swept down on the doomed town...

     ...and, of course, those whose greed and negligence were responsible for the tragedy were not held accountable. 

     Flooded: Requiem For Johnstown, narrated in free verse by an ensemble cast, is divided into three acts. In the first readers became intimately acquainted with the six young people who are featured in the narrative. In the second they see that horrific night through their eyes. In the third they experience the aftermath as told by both the living and the dead.

     I think this book should be widely read and discussed. It's a truly engaging and thought provoking narrative. And it shows that in the over a century between then and now the wealthy and powerful have not improved. Only today their greed and indifference to the plight of everyone else, especially marginalized communities, is creating the exponentially larger tragedy of climate change. And unless the rest of us find a way to stop it the whole precious world will become collateral damage. 

On a purrrsonal note, I have now read and reviewed 2,700 books on this blog in the 13 years I've been keeping it. I wonder how long it will take to get to 2,800.

A great big shout out goes out to the readers for whom I put in the work of keeping it up and the gifted and talented writers whose books 📚 I review. 

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