The Johnstown Flood

Though a little slow going do to too much repetition, it is filled with a tremendous amount of well documented information. With just the right amount of human feeling it allows the reader to understand the enormity of this tragedy.

The book was very informative. I am from western Pennsylvania around the Pittsburgh area and it was good to read history from around this area.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in the history of western Pennsylvania.

This is a wonderfully researched and written account of a tragic event. The only way to improve on it would be to have a clear map of the flood's path through the towns, particularly more detail shown in Johnstown.

Fabulous book--exciting from beginning to end. It puts a whole new perspective on the building and maintenance of dams, floods, and the forces of nature. A lot of information packed into this story. I highly recommend it!

David McCullough brings this tragic story to life. Through his description of that terrible night, you can almost hear the rushing water as it engulfs Johnstown. I am looking forward to reading more of his books.

I have read almost all of Mr. McCullough's book and I find him an excellent historian and his work very readable. The Johnstown Flood is one of his earlier books and one that was disappointing. I never felt how devastating the flood really was on the lives of those affected nor the effect on the nation from reading the book. The book was too short and the character delineation too incomplete for me to really enjoy the book. I think that a better bet is to read his other books especially The Path between the Seas and The Great Bridge.

I enjoyed the book once I got into it. There was a lot of detail at first that lost me. I had to lead à book club discussion on the book. Otherwise, I probably would not have finished it; and I would have missed getting to know the people at Johnstown.

AS A LIFELONG PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENT, I LEARNED A GREAT DEAL READING THIS BOOK. DAVID MCCULLOUGH BROUGHT THIS UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT IN OUR STATE'S HISTORY TO LIFE. I FELT AS THOUGH I KNEW THE PEOPLE OF JOHNSTOWN AND WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH.

Riveting. Excellent. McCullough is the greatest story-teller! Every FEMA employee needs to read this book. A sad story of what not to do in so many ways. I don't think this story is taught in our schools. It should be required reading.

This is a great book. David McCullough is a master story teller. I wish James Cameron would make a movie of this horrible, but fascinating story. It would rate right up there with "Titanic".
Tom McKinney
Minneapolis, MN

I used to drive through Johnstown on my way to College so I was familiar with the area. Reading the book brought back many memories. Well written story. A lesson in not what to do as well as what to do.

McCullough could write about anything and make it interesting. I knew almost nothing about this tragedy when I started reading this book, but by the end of the book I felt like I had experienced it first hand.

This is a very good history of the Johnstown flood. His other books are equally as well written. As a matter of fact, while reading his history of the Brooklyn Bridge I found a reference to a book written about one of my ancestors. Very well researched.

David McCullough is one of my favorite writers, but as a Pennsylvanian I found this account particularly fascinating. His attention to detail and ability to intertwine the various stories make this a real page turner.

I have been looking for this book for 3-4 years now but thought it was called "The Jamestown Flood. I loved this book. It was meticulously researched and and so exciting that I couldn't put it down. David McCullough never disappoints.

I read the book on Kindle and was distressed to find that there was not an appropriate map for me to consult. The information was adequate for an introduction and I enjoyed the descriptions very much. A worthwhile read.

Not one of McCulloughs best books but worth reading,none the less. A tragedy that could have been prevented. Interesting how the working class,of that area,got by on a day to day basis while the well to do seemed to have no cares at all. If you are a American history buff you should enjoy this fact filled book.

this book is a book that definitely needs maps & pictures, so I would not recommend it on a Kindel. (there are a couple impossible to see "pictures of dam and flood" at the end of the book.) So I have to assume they are better in an actual book. The story itself once the flood starts kind of plods along and, since you cannot visualize the landscape or the people as one after another are washed away it kinda drags.

Very enjoyable account of the Johnstown Flood. McCullough is incredibly thorough in his accounting of the disaster, and for anyone who enjoys American history this is something worth reading. I prefer non-fiction to novels, so writers like David McCullough & Stephen Ambrose are my favorites.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. McCullough's attention to research and detail makes a vivid experience and draws you in as though you were there. At times it seems the detail bogs down the flow of the story, however I would still recommend this book for history lovers. I would rate his other books higher than this one though.

I prejudged this book simply on the author whom I greatly admire. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. A great deal of research went into the making of this novel but, after awhile, it became rather boring loosing me in a mass of detail.

A well-written exploration of a tragic failure that reflects on our own times. We've come a long way in our over-sight of large construction projects, but we still fail to prepare for worst case scenarios. We have a lot to learn from this story.

This is clearly one of McCullough's earlier books because the work reads more like a very long thesis. Yes, it is accurate in its telling, but it is also a slow, ponderous read. Why? He includes pages and pages of lists, such as the dead, that tend to bog the reading-flow down. In addition, he flips back and forth with not only characters but also geography; this made for a very disjointed read. His later books demonstrate a learning curve in terms of both structure and prose that is clearly not evident within this text.

I had heard about the Johnstown Flood when I was quite young. I had no knowledge of how much havoc was caused and the tremendous lost of life.

I had read other books by David McCullough and enjoyed them. I was certain this book would prove to be one of his best.

This disaster reminds me of the Civil War. People don't forget it and pass it on for generations. My sister in-law, born in 1933 remembers her parents talking about the flood when she was young.

I like David McCullough; I've read several of his books and enjoyed them very much. But this subject and book isn't much at all; it really doesn't match the scope and breadth of his other works.

So I give the book a soft three stars.

Even though I haven't read it, I have to give it five stars, cuz my good friends Greg and Terese live near Johnstown. If and when I do read it, I will amend this review based upon my thoughts on the book. Thank you

Although I gained an overall understanding of the magnitude of the flood, the technicalities involved were confusing. The problems concerning the construction of the dam were confusing. I'm sure the book was technically correct but my mind couldn't decide if I was reading a textbook or a story of the event. It was a captivating book but not an easy read for me.

This book tells a gripping story, but it has several flaws. Much text is spent on describing the exact locations of events, but this is hard to follow in the absence of clear maps. There is a tiny map (at the end in the Kindle version), but it is useless.

Second, the story cries out for more information about what happened later given that other major floods happened. And the rebuilding process description is very skimpy.

Finally, the writing is a bit too colloquial.

I have read a number of later books by McCullough, and they are much better. This one was a disappointment.

Am a fan of David McCullough, but didn't enjoy this as much as his other efforts. The event is tragic and fascinating and McCullough is a great history writer, but the mass of extraneous detail negatively affected the story itself.

I like David McCullough and really enjoyed the first book by him that I read, 1776. Some of his other work however, has not been as enjoyable read as that first experience. I have put down some of his books after a few chapters. I had not read about the Johnstown Flood since I was a boy over 50 years ago and found this book to be more informative but again, the read was a bit dry.

I am a die hard McCollough fan but I did not find the Johnstown Flood as informative or interesting as his other books. I believe I have read all of his books to this point and feel guilty writing a single unfavorable review but this just didn't click with me.

I cannot say enough good about David McCullough, but this book, while excellent for many, not me. The details are so incredible I am unable to read through the book and find myself skipping pages. Those who like DM writings and love details will love this book.

The author's other noteworthy and fantastic books told very human stories that helped history come alive in a way that flowed. This book was a bit choppy. The ebb and flow of its thematic currents were tough to navigate.

Wonderful historic review of an event I had not known about prior to reading the book. The descriptions made me feel like I was there observing the flood and its devastating impact. You will not want to put this book down. Sad, and amazing that lack of technology and the cry of wolf to many times made people not believe when the siren actually did sound of the coming flood.

Well written and thoroughly researched, this is a typical McCullough fascinating and informative narrative. Why the 3 stars: because the KINDLE edition is not complete. No illustrations, some of which are referred to in the text (as in "Following is an illustration of ..."). A "List of Illustrations" is in the Table of Contents but alas without a link to the text or an appendix or anywhere in the book. Buyer Beware.

I was very interested in the subject matter, however it seems McCullough included a lot of filler in order to increase the page count. A more accurate title would be "Descriptions of the Interiors of Houses that were Destroyed in the Johnstown Flood."

I was anxious to read this book as it seems similar to Isaac's Storm. But it was a struggle to read because of all the details about what town is where and how far/how deep/when/why and too many people just made it a confusing bore.

Rarely do I not finish a book but I got about 1/3 of the way into this (by pushing myself) and finally I just put it down as it was too much like studying for a test.

I did not find it relaxing but annoying to try to keep myriad facts and figures and people straight instead of just enjoying a good book. THUMBS WAY DOWN. Maybe somebody like an engineer would enjoy it but that's just a guess.

A few years ago, I had occasion to visit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the site of a historic flood in 1889. The Johnstown Area Heritage Association and the National Park Service presented informative programs on the flood and its devastation. We had the opportunity to walk the terrain. With that background, it was impossible to pass up the 268-page history authored by David McCullough.

The book was the 1968 first printing. McCullough had not yet established himself as a prolific historian, but all of the elements are present. The steel manufacturing Johnstown is clearly described, stretched out along a narrow mountain river in the Alleghenies, near Pittsburgh. Equally well described is the South Fork Dam, located some 15 miles east of Johnstown. The dam held about 20 million tons of water, some 450 feet above the level of the town. When the dam burst in a heavy rainstorm, the water-hammer dropped on Johnstown, destroying the community, and its industries, and causing more than two thousand deaths.

McCullough describes the experiences of the townsfolk. He also relates how newspapermen, recognizing an important story, drop everything and rush to the flood scene. He chastises many of those scribes for filing inaccurate articles. Charitable donations of food, clothing and money came from all parts of the world. McCullough clearly describes the handling of those donations. Among the persons singled out for high praise is Clara Barton and her Red Cross organization.

The book also examines the legal liability for the devastation. The dam was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the members of which included industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. The law was applied differently in those days. The club was insolvent, and there was no evidence that any of the members had any culpability for the maintenance of the dam. Besides, the club members were among the most powerful men in the country.

In some respects, the high level of detail makes the story difficult to follow. This is particularly the case where the author describes the fast-moving flood careening through Johnstown, but it is better to hear the first-hand accounts than to read a conclusional narrative without the factual detail.

It is an excellent book.

This is David McCullough's first major book. Obviously he has gone on to a very great career and is on my personal short list of favorite authors of non fiction. This book is about one of the largest natural disasters in the history of our country.

The Johnstown flood happens in Pennsylvania not too far from Pittsburgh. David McCullough is originally from Pittsburgh and therefore has a strong sense of the area and local history, I too am from Pittsburgh and grew up with a similar knowledge of local lore including the Johnstown flood. As such, I greatly enjoyed David McCullough's account.

David McCullough has a smooth writing style that is not excessively academic. He provides a relatively enjoyable, easy reading experience that is nonetheless very educational. Due to this popular narrative style the book also makes an enjoyable listening experience on audiobook.

I have read numerous books of David McCullough. I have never read a book of his that I would not give a "5 star" rating. His later books tend to be much lengthier than this first effort. In reading critical comments about his other works, one will often encounter criticisms that his books are too lengthy and too detailed. Although I personally disagree with that, it is a matter of taste as opposed to quality and I respect other persons' opinions in that regard. The point here is that this book is more concise and if that is what one wants from one's reading experience, this book fits the bill.

In summary, I really enjoyed this work and am very glad that I was able to read it. I truly cannot think of a critical comment. Being from Pennsylvania, I now intend to take a field trip and visit the specific area where the famous dam was located and then follow the path of the flood to complete this educational experience. Thank You...

McCullough’s ability to craft a catching narrative shines in this book in portraying a local disaster that had global impact. Never far from the flood itself, he joins pieces of the story much like bringing together a puzzle to create the greater picture. History, culture and geography are merged to present the setting but his development of characters and their story brings the disaster to life for the current reader. The book presents the causes and outcome of the flood and while McCullough seems to remain neutral in pointing out culpability the overall tenor tends to deposit blame with the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. By combining a visit to the Johnstown museum and reading McCullough’s book the flood disaster comes to life and creates a remembrance of those who lost their lives. The Johnstown Flood is recommended for a greater understanding of an important part of Pennsylvania’s history but more, for the way it reminds the reader of one’s vulnerability and how people can come together in the midst of trials to gain strength for the future.

The Johnstown Flood

David McCullough was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and educated there and at Yale. He wrote other books and received the Pulitzer Prize twice, the Francis Parkman Prize, the ‘Los Angeles Times’ Book Award, and twice won the National Book Award. On May 31, 1889 a dam burst and sent a wall of water down the mountain that devastated Johnstown Pennsylvania, killed more than 2,000 people, and created a national scandal. This 1968 book has nine chapters, a List of Illustrations, a List of Victims, a Bibliography, and Index. The timber on the hills had been removed, the rivers had been obstructed and diminished, the earth dam had not been properly maintained. Then the heaviest rain storm in a century created a catastrophe.

Afterwards the people rebuilt homes and businesses reopened. Some left as there was nothing to keep them there. Law suits were filed but had no result against the private club. The influence and prestige of the private club owners was tremendous, few dared to challenge them (Chapter IX). Daniel Hastings was later elected Governor because of his record in helping the survivors. The science of dam building has improved. Cement skins protect the walls of dams, there are controls to lower the water level as needed. This book tells about the people and culture of that era, but doesn’t go into a lot of details. The ‘Bibliography’ lists many books, but they are decades old and hard to obtain. One lesson is the need for state and Federal inspections of large dams. Many of today’s dams are used as reservoirs for water supplies or flood control.

This is a well written story that educates as it entertains the reader.

I was slightly disappointed with McCullough's book on the Wright Brothers, but this master craftsman of popular histories produced another fascinating tale with this one. He details the horrifying force of the "natural disaster" with facts and figures. He provides numerous stories of individual deaths and survivals. What I found most interesting though, is his tracing of the human fault as the proximate cause of the flood. The torrential and unremitting rain was what set the disaster in motion as the immediate cause, but the South Fork Dam would not have failed had it been built and maintained properly. And, the amount of water ripping down through the steep hills of the narrow Conemaugh Valley would not have been 20 million tons had the hill sides not have been denuded of trees.

McCullough's descriptions of the characters involved before, during, and after the catastrophe reveal the full panoply of humanity. There are the rich and powerful members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which owned the Dam, who used their wealth and power to avoid any legal liability. There are the venal attorneys who were the tools used by the elites to escape responsibility. Some Eastern European immigrants were victimized as opportune scapegoats, some behaved heroically, and a few did turn to opportunistic theft after the flood. Stories of cowardice and self-sacrifice are related. The most uplifting part of the story is how most of the survivors behaved responsibly, helping those they could, and the nation and 18 foreign countries rallied to the aid of the devastated communities after the flood with relief efforts. Like the hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wars we've witnessed in our own lifetimes, these horrors leave us with stories of what makes us human in extreme circumstances, cowardice, bravery, and most often, common decency.
MONSTERS OF THE MIDWAY 1969; Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, Viet Nam, Civil Rights, and Football

The author certainly had his hands full with reassembling the mountain of research that made an intriguing novel possible. A labor of love. It was a pitiful tale that still holds true today; the lives of many being in the hands of so few.

In the mountains above the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the year 1889, set nestled an old earthen dam. It's lakeside features had attracted the likes of the rich and famous. Luxurious homes were scattered along the waterfront.

No attention was given to the integrity of the dam. It had not received any maintenance in years and was desperately, long overdue. There were some residents in Johnstown who feared a breach of the dam might occur. And they were right.

On May 31, 1889 the dam failed. Residents of Jamestown had no warning. There were over two-thousand lives lost in the tragedy. It could have all been avoided.

This book really illustrates the plight of the average man when confronted by wealth and catastrophic conditions
in the making by the very rich. Read this book and learn about the most terrifying dam break to hit the U.S.
It is set in the late 1800s at the outset.
The flood is described in detail. I think some people saw in 10 minutes what really can turn your reality inside out. It
is thoroughly researched. You can't imagine it...all the hurdles that one person can maneuver around
in a quest for survival. And, the split second decisions that were transforming. We learn about individual encounters
with the dam break from many perspectives. And, the frustration felt by the reader when the warnings are unheeded, and
the situation builds to a climax is palpable.

This book is a thorough accounting of the decimating flood in Pennsylvania in 1889 that killed 2000 people. Using letters, newspaper articles, diaries, unpublished memories passed down the years, as well as pamphlets, rare old maps, court records and books written by victims, the book takes the reader into the town before and after the flood. The dam built over the town breaks bringing death and horror to its people. Individual’s lives are followed, from the wealthy who built the dam to the poorest, but heroic citizens. The reader easily envisions the tragedies of particular families and exceptional sacrifices of individuals to save others. The story reads easily and clearly from beginning to end. The book in enhanced by maps and photographs. It is a gripping account of tragedy that could have been avoided but for indifference and ignorance.
This is a quick paced book with scholarly treatment that moves the story—and the reader.

Popular historian David McCullough is something of a legend -- and deservedly so. Few in his generation have ever equaled, let alone surpassed, his ability to construct a richly textured and deeply researched historical narrative. This gem, his first full length book, is every bit as good as his eventual Pulitzer Prize-winners, “John Adams” and “1776.” First published in 1968, two full decades before the centennial remembrance, “Johnstown Flood” is an epic story, told fully, clearly and convincingly.

The story, from start to finish, reads like an outline for a major Hollywood disaster film, the type of summer blockbuster directed by Ron Howard and starring some A-list action hero (Liam Neeson would be a natural) with lots of high definition, computer animated special effects. The fact that I literally hadn’t “seen this movie before” was perhaps the biggest surprise of the entire read.

To begin with, rarely has history served up such a perfect platter of “bad guys.” The ultimate culprit in the devastating Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889 was the South Fork dam, located some 14 miles up the valley from the bustling blue collar iron city outside of Pittsburgh. The primary function of the dam in 1889 was to maintain a 3-mile-long, mile-wide, and 6o-foot-deep manmade lake stocked with trout for a millionaire’s summer camp, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. It would be hard to find a fuller representation of the venal Robber Baron (or in today’s terms, “1%ers”) lifestyle personified than this elitist club. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick were members, as were future cabinet members Andrew Mellon and Philander Knox.

The dam had originally been built to feed the Main Line canal to Pittsburgh during the dry Pennsylvania summers, but was rendered obsolete by the new Pennsylvania Railroad nearly as soon as it was completed. There had long been questions about the earthen dam, but many presumed that it was stable because some of the most powerful forces in modern America had ensured then that it was, first the Pennsylvania Railroad and then the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose membership boasted the crème-de-la-crème of Pittsburgh high society.

The storm that hit central Pennsylvania (and the general Midwest) on May 30, 1889 was epic. The author confesses that “…there is no doubt that the storm, which brought on the failure of the dam, was without precedent…” Water fell from the sky in sheets and without let up. Downtown Johnstown was already under several feet of water on the afternoon of May 31, 1889 when the South Fork dam began to give way.

A consistent theme developed by McCullough is that concerns about the dam were long standing among the resident in the valley below, but there was a belief that the rich and powerful men who ran the Club had it under control and eventually a “boy-who-cried-wolf” dynamic developed. “There was talk about the dam breaking,” McCullough quotes a survivor remarking later, “and they said there had been rumors but it never came, and so I thought that was how it would be this time.”

Best of all, and as usual, McCullough provides vivid and arresting first hand accounts of the tragedy as it unfolded, enveloping men, women and children, many of whom refused to believe until the final moments that the long-talked-about calamity had actually occurred. “The bursting of the South Fork dam was about like turning Niagara Falls into the valley for thirty-six minutes,” he writes. It took nearly an hour for the surge to reach Johnstown, and when it did it was marked by an ominous black mist ahead, the accompanying sound of thunder, and the absence of water until the final push. “It was a race for life,” survivor William Henry Smith recalled. “There was seen the black head of the flood, now the monster Destruction, whose crest raised high in the air, and with this in view even the weak found wings for their feet.”

As awful as the Biblical flood surge had been, the aftermath was nearly as bad. Indeed, “several of the [Civil War] veterans were saying [that the night after the flood] was the worst night they had ever been through,” according to contemporary accounts. “The stench everywhere was terrible, of burned plaster and sodden bedding, of oil-soaked muck, of water thick with every kind of filth, and, worst of all, of still unfound bodies.” It was for many, both believers and non-believers, the apocalypse.

In the end, 2,209 were counted as immediate victims, or roughly 10% of the entire valley population. The list of casualties fills 17 double columned pages in the back of “The Johnstown Flood,” which is a sobering experience to peruse. McCullough heaps on further, powerful context: 99 whole families were wiped out; 663 bodies were never identified; skeletal remains were unearthed as late as 1906. The silver lining is that typhoid and dysentery could have been even bigger killers, but were kept in check by hordes of altruistic volunteers from all around the country, including Clara Barton and the Red Cross, which arrived right after the flood and stayed for over 5 months.

“The Johnstown Flood [was] the biggest news story since the murder of Abraham Lincoln,” McCullough writes. News of the flood, much of it inaccurate rumor mongering, at least at first, took up the entire front page of The New York Times for 5 days, and for other papers two full weeks. Over $3.5M in donations (over $100M in today’s dollars) poured in from around the country and the world, not including the trainloads of food and supplies, although total property damagers were eventually estimated at $17M.

The Johnstown Flood was the greatest disaster to hit the United States up to that time (the 1900 Galveston hurricane, 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11 would eventually eclipse the Johnstown death count), but most of the locals were convinced that it was not a “natural” disaster. Rather, it was murder by negligent engineering. “The dam was simply a gigantic heap of earth dumped across the course of a mountain stream between two low hills,” it was claimed. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club officials that inspected and worked on the dam had no credentials and contributed nothing. “In other words,” the author summarizes, “the job had been botched by amateurs.” Nevertheless, “Not a nickel was ever collected through damage suits from the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club or from any of its members.” A miasma of injustice seems to hang over the benighted Pennsylvania valley.

The Johnstown Flood is a terrible and fascinating chapter in American history, once as big as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, combined; yet today it is remembered by few and understood by even less. I can’t imagine that any thoughtful American would be disappointed in their decision to read this book.

In ten minutes time, a flood hit the Johnstown area in 1889, killing over 2,000 people, making it the most devastating flood in our history. This is an excellent book of the history, not only the flood itself, but of the events leading to this tragedy, and how Johnstown rebounded.

The water that would ultimately create the flood was from a reservoir the state legislature funded in 1836 to support a canal system idea that ultimately was abandoned. Thus, the dam no longer had its original purpose soon after it was built.

The dam fell to neglect. The dam would found to be defective and did break on a few occasions. Yet, there was little water collected behind the dam on those occasions and any damage was minor. The state legislature faced financial difficulties and approved only intermittent construction on the bridge through 1850. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the dam at a discounted price for its right of way. This new owner neglected the bridge.

A group of wealthy people from the Pittsburgh formed the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and bought the dam to turn the dam's lake into a recreational area. Members of this club included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Fricke. The club began renovating the dam, yet a huge rain destroyed all the previous repairs.

Lumbering operations had removed much timber that would have retained much water from a flood. The water behind the dam pushed the dam away in one big motion. The riverbed was mostly rock. The first large community hit was Woodvale, who lost 314 of its approximate 1,000 population in five minutes. When the flood hit Johnstown, the flood reached at least 34 feet in height (and some estimates are that it may have reached as high as 44 feet).

The book aptly describes of the aftermath of the flood. The press stirred paranoia that ethnic groups were looting the bodies. This later proved to be false. Yet they did not stop mob beatings of members of the accused group. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was found responsible for the not properly repairing the dam in court, yet the club never paid any damages. Daniel Hastings, who achieved acclaim for his efforts in helping Johnstown rebound, would later be elected Governor. Three babies were born in Johnstown on the day of the flood, and they were given the names Flood Rhodes, Flood Raymond, and Moses Williams.

This is an excellent history of a horrible Pennsylvania disaster. It is written clearly and thoroughly describes the events of that time. This is a fantastic book for people interested in how people handle disasters, how such a flood could ever occur, and in Johnstown area history.

His books are always very informative and a quick and enjoyable read. This one is no exception. He details the story of the club and their dam, how it was not well maintained, and once it broke, manages to spell out to the reader what happened almost to the level of some individuals. It was as if he was there taking notes. Of course, it was constructed from observations of the survivors, but he puts it together in a very concise and clear way. The book has photographs that allow one to see the power of the flood. And the topography of the river magnifies the floodwaters.

I enjoyed David McCullough's book. The style is very similar to that of Eric Larson's book Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900. They both start the evening before as one man (in this case John G. Parke Jr.) notices the weather is somehow different this night than others. There is a premonition of disaster, although in McCullough's book, John Parke seems not to pay much attention. We then catch a glimpse of Johnstown on the eve of the flood and get a brief history of the place, a booming town heading into the twentieth century, not unlike Galveston, Texas, although the latter was much richer. When disaster does strike we've met some of the characters and so our connection and understanding are so much deeper and more human. This disaster is not just history, but it effected real people, whose lives changed forever. In McCullough's case, live interviews with survivors only strengthen this effect.

I would say, however, that although I found the book interesting, I felt there was too much technical detail surrounding the dam and the flood itself. I would have liked to read more details of people's lives before, during and after the flood. It would have been nice for McCullough to include more details he had read in newspaper accounts and from talking to the survivors.

All in all, though, I think it is an interesting read, and shows us how big money is often not accountable. A lesson we still need today.

On Memorial Day, 1889 the South Fork Dam, fourteen miles from Johnstown Pennsylvania failed and a torrent of water was released with the force of the Niagara River as it leaps the falls destroyed the steel town in its path.

2,209 men, women and children died, or so says the official count, but it is a number which was never been credited with precision. Like all catastrophes there are tales of heroism, cowardice, generosity, luck and misadventure. Like all calamities there are questions of where to place the blame. Was it an Act of God or was it the result of criminal negligence?

This book was written nearly fifty years ago. It describes the flood like it happened yesterday,

I’d always heard of the Johnstown Flood, but had never really known any of the details.
This book will give you ALL of those amazing details, many of which are simply unbelievable. McCullough, with his superb writing skills, weaves the story in such a way to keep you turning pages and continually saying to yourself, “wow, I never knew that”
A must read for those who enjoy a good historical disaster story, written in a similar fashion to several of Eric Larson’s great works.
Only negative: It’s the kind of book that’s so enjoyable to read, that you don’t want it to end.

Being an engineer involved in dam design and failure investigations, I would have liked a little more discussion about the technical aspects of this failure, but otherwise this sad story is exceptionally well told by David McCullough.

He first sets the scene by placing us in sociocultural and historical context, telling us what life was like in this little part of the US at the time. Then he shows us the gradual buildup of precursors to the failure - both technical and human - so that we get a sense of the complex answer to *why* the failure happened (the causation of such failures is usually multifactorial and complex). Then the failure and its devastating aftermath are described in such vivid and faithful detail that you'll feel like you were there, and will feel the corresponding horror, disgust, terror, outrage, and whatever other emotions would be particular to you.

Because of the subject matter, I can't say that I 'enjoyed' this book, but it was certainly enlightening, both as an engineer and a human being, and I can recommend it to anyone who would be interested in this sort of thing.

I very much enjoy reading David McCullough, and his book "The Johnstown Flood" is no exception. He weaves a great story while at the same time, educating the reader about an event (in this case) or important person in history. McCullough always manages to find the fascinating details that makes history so vivid in his hands. No need to review the events of this terrible disaster of May 31, 1889 - this book is a quick and engrossing read and will leave you with a great understanding of it.
I listened to the audiobook version as read by the late Edward Hermann, and it was excellent. I highly recommend either version.

David McCullough! Amazing historian and author, wow! He's done an incredible job of bringing this story to life, in a non-fiction format, but in a way that reads and flows almost as easily as a novel. You can picture the scenes in your mind as they're described, and it's engaging and fascinating from the very beginning. The suspense he builds is particularly impressive, given that this is a non-fiction book and not a novel. Highly recommend!

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough is a national treasure. For proof, look no further than this, his first popular history.

McCullough traces the roots of what is still one of the worst man-made disasters in the nation's history: the 1889 collapse of a dam above the hardscrabble Pennsylvania steel city of Johnstown that killed over 2000 people in the span of a few minutes. But this is more than just a disaster story; it follows a large real-life cast drawn from all levels of 1880s American society and immerses us in their lives and times so we understand that what happened to Johnstown was just the dynamic of the era writ small. The experience is much like watching James Cameron's Titanic -- we know the story doesn't end well, we know a lot of the characters are going to die, but we watch (or read) anyway because we've become involved in their fates.

McCullough doesn't assume you know much about the time or place, so don't worry about prerequisites. Don't even think about reading this book without a good map of western Pennsylvania close at hand (Google Earth works particularly well; the maps in my edition aren't great). You may have some difficulty keeping track of who's who among the particularly large number of characters, and sometimes the minutiae can become a bit too minute. Stick with it. When the rains begin to fall in the narrative, The Johnstown Flood becomes history as ticking-clock suspense, Irwin Allen with a brain. If you like it, the prolific McCullough has plenty more where this came from.

Very good book on an important event in the history of the US that many do not know of. According the the Johnstown Flood Museum the Johnstown flood of 1889 is said to be the worse dam disaster in US history and before September 11th it held the record for the greatest number of civilian deaths in a single day.

[...]

The book really captured my attention and I ended up staying up late into the night to finish it. The author did a wonderful job recreating the stories of individual people as well as newspaper accounts. One thing I really enjoyed is that the author discussed the erroneous reports given in the newspaper and explained how these reports were later discredited. I found this particularly interesting since some of these (false) stories are still part of my family's lore.

Yes I did say my family's lore...My relatives lived in the Johnstown and South Fork area then and continue to live there now. My mother was born in Johnstown and raised in South Fork and my father is also from this area. The dam also flooded in 1936 and 1977 with devastating effects. I was a child visiting the area in 1977and my grandparents took me to an overlook where I could see and smell (which was a horrific smell I will never forget) the damage from the flood.

For those of you interested in history many of these building and sites mentioned in the book still exist in Johnstown and there are a lot of pictures on the web that are described in the book.

When the dam holding storm-swollen Lake Conemaugh burst, David McCullough writes, the result was like unleashing Niagara Falls into a valley of thousands of people that included the growing urban hub of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The violence of that result would be transformed into political and social fury when the full reason for the unprecedented disaster was discovered.

Wrote Pennsylvania columnist J. J. McLaurin: "50,000 lives in Pennsylvania were jeopardized for eight years that a club of rich pleasure-seekers might fish and sail and revel in luxurious ease during the heated term."

Or as poet Isaac Reed put it: "All the horrors that hell could wish/Such was the price that was paid for - fish!"

McCullough's 1968 history presents both the social and natural contexts behind the famous flood, the worst natural disaster in U. S. history to that time and the second-worst natural disaster at present. Scrupulously fair, he details a multitude of causes, including an unnaturally wet storm that hit that May day in 1889 and a laxity of Johnstown's citizenry regarding a situation widely understood to be dangerous.

In the end, he's one with Reed and McLaurin regarding the criminal neglect of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose members included such captains of national industry as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. They were not evil, he makes clear, just too content with a status quo that served them fairly well in 1889.

McCullough writes in the familiar easy-flowing, slightly stodgy style readers of his later histories will recognize. He bores in on a handful of people on both sides of the dam, laying out the topography and taking his time to get to the disaster itself, which occurs 100 pages in to the 268-page book. Despite all his care, I would have been hopelessly lost following the path of the flood if not for a couple of finely detailed maps made by someone named Palacios and tacked onto the endsheets of my third edition hardcover.

Once the flood does hit, McCullough captures the desperation and futility of the situation in a crisp and hard-hitting way. People rolled by each other on floating roofs while others raced for higher ground.

The book may have been cut a bit too close by McCullough's editors. He writes about the bravery of one Hunting Club engineer named Parke without describing anything he does that smacks of particular courage. He also notes the presence of Red Cross founder Clara Barton and journalist Richard Harding Davis, famous people seen here early in their careers, but then doesn't spend much time on them. A lot of people are mentioned once in passing only to show up later in death, choking the story with an excess of names. A longer book would have given all this more space to breathe, and I suspect that the original manuscript presented that.

Overall, the high standards of McCullough's later books are much in evidence here; not to mention a keen ability to make terrible fact read like exciting fiction. McCullough's many fans will want to read and have this book. So will those who wonder about the details of a long-ago disaster that still ranks among America's worst.

The Johnstown Flood was the second book by David McCullough that I’ve read, and I am quite certain that before long I will be reading everything that he’s ever written. The Johnstown Flood is really a very admirable accomplishment.

The book is basically a chronological retelling of the flood that overwhelmed Johnstown, PN in 1889 when the South Fork Dam burst, killing over 2000 people. Especially since the reader already knows the basic facts of the Johnstown Flood before reading the book, the strength of McCullough’s work is simply in his writing. He sketches the inhabitants of Johnstown deftly, helping you to care about the regular and extraordinary people whose lives are swept up in the deluge. Moreover, he builds suspense, weaving together the stories of the many people in the valley at the time, without also drawing the book out too far. By the end, The Johnstown Flood has been a compelling, if tragic, story, with thoughtful analysis of the main actors of the tragedy and the natural and social factors that led to the flood.

I've enjoyed several of McCullough's works, and this was no different. He has a nice expository style, not sensational, always showing the humanity in the story. He does a nice job of setting the scene, the history of the area and it's floods, and the soon to be infamous South Fork Dam. He assigns logical blame while couching it in the culture of the times, the newspapers (sensational as ever) cried foul to the South Fork Gentleman's club without naming individuals. For who, in 1889, was going to take on Andrew Carnegie and Ford Frick? No settlements were won, and they may have been guilty of trusting maintenance of the dam to the wrong people. But I get ahead of myself...... one note, the book is only 60% text, the rest a few pictures and a list of the lost, thus it may be a faster read than you think.

Growing up in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I knew of - but very little about - the Johnstown flood, though having visited friends of the family there when I was a kid. While looking among the titles written by David McCullough, this book caught my interest. Once I got started, I found it difficult to put down.

At the time (1889), the Johnstown flood became the biggest news story in the nation since the assassination of President Lincoln twenty-four years earlier. I had no idea of the enormity of scale regarding the flood, nor the years of extenuating circumstances that had led up to it, but McCullough paints a vivid and most accurate picture of the full terror and devastation of the deluge that bulldozed its way through the valley and into the town, all while he brings to life the names and faces of the thousands of victims and survivors in scrupulous and unprejudiced detail.

There is a saying, not original to me, that events are of record, but reality is a construct. McCullough does the research necessary to state the essential facts of this historical event. This is no mean task, given all the disinformation and misinformation in the historical record. But what is even more impressive is McCullough's ability to show why there is so much inaccuracy in the writing about this event.

The power of the new media, the insatiable appetite of Americans for a story, and the raw class tensions and social issues of the time combine to create all sorts of varied efforts to construct a reality to explain the Johnstown events. Those constructs often tell us more about ourselves than they do about what really happened in Johnstown.

The early constructions magnified the death toll tenfold and seized upon all sorts of fantastic survivor stories that were patently untrue. Some shades of 9/11 here. Then the focus turned to the responsiblity of the owners of the resort on top of the dam that had rebuilt the dam. This was the class card -- rich guys who had nothing better than to do than pursue leisure (a novel concept at the time) and isolate themselves from other Americans (tapping into ancient American attitudes against elites) running a poorly built dam doomed to fail and to kill the groundlings below. This story resonated with Americans.

McCullough is exceptionally balanced and thoughtful of his treatment of the issue, and picks apart the crudest and most inaccurate attacks against the dam owners. In the end, however, there is some core truth to the theme that the rich owners' neglect contributed to the tragedy. The dam had been originally built by the State, but the reconstruction job by the resort owners was poorly engineered. The biggest flaw was the lack of any way to control the level of the dam with outlets at the bottom of the dam to let out some water. Screens at the top to keep the fish in that led to a blockage and contributed to the problems, while the most strikingly callous measure (they cared more about fish than human life), probably was a minor matter in the whole tragedy.

What's also fascinating is that the rich were not brought to account. Tort and corporate law at the time allowed the rich owners to shield personal liability behind a shell owner of the facility and difficult issues of causality rendered all the lawsuits unwinnable. Today, there would be a different result, as McCullough points out. Those decrying the "flood" of litigation in modern days may do well to consider the real floods that fear of liablity (and the concomitant insurance, risk prevention, government regulation, and professional reviews such fears engender to prevent tragedy from occurring in the first place) has prevented. The failure of the press (who were owned by some of these rich guys) and the legal system to call the owners to account tells us a lot about the entrenched power the ruled the country at the time.

McCollough tells the tale of the flood vividly, corrects the record to tell events truthfully, and then deals with the larger social issues raised by the event. This is a extraordinarily good book

I've rated this five stars only because you cannot list six. This is the one and only account of the Flood that you need to read.

Even though it is now old enough to be a classic, it is as timely as today's newspaper. The hubris of the robber barons contrasted with the human anguish is nowhere more poignantly told than in McCullough's meticulously researched account. (And yes, he is related to people connected with the story, as am I).

If you want the story to come alive, then focus on the people...Especially Cyrus Elder, the Cambria Iron executive who was the only Club member whose immediate family members perished in the Flood. Representing both sides of the story, Cyrus is the center around which the disaster unfolds.

Yes, it helps if you know the terrain--go out of your way, if you can, to see the National Flood Memorial and you will be awestruck by the sweep of the broken dam's size. Far off in the distance, across the long-dry lake bed, you will see the rooftops of the little Pennsylvania town of St Michaels, which grew up around the abandoned cottages of the illustrious members of the defunct Club. Many of the cottages are still there! Better yet, you can wander through the original Clubhouse--some of the wallpaper probably dates back to 1889, even now.

In the main NFM building, be sure to look at the telegraph handset, the one by which the ignored warning from South Fork was sent down the wire to Johnstown and then relayed on to Robert Pitcairn in Pittsburgh.

McCullough tells it best. Read the book; then go see for yourself.

Pay attention to the South Fork Club members.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction

I grabbed this book because I have been so impressed by many other McCullough's books and this subject was one that I wanted to learn more about. I was very pleased with my selection.

Edward Herrmann, known for doing many History Channel and PBS history narratives, reads the book. His is the perfect voice for this type of book since I am used to it for this type of subject. The sound quality was excellent and he sounds like he is interested in the subject also.

I knew very little about the flood itself prior to reading this book, so almost all of the information was new to me. The author mostly follows a chronology of what happened from the time that the South Fork Dam was first built and also goes into the history of several important characters in the story. The detail accelerates as we get closer to the big event and follows the path of destruction. He tells many incredible stories of improbable escapes and disasters. He also goes into detail on the response to the flood and the many great things that happened in the aftermath.

I hadn't realized that the dam was owned by many of the most famous steel men of the age. Overall, I found this to be a fascinating story that was told extremely well. I highly recommend this book to almost anyone since the stories of tragedy and heroism will appeal to just about everybody.

The CD version was well read and the reader was able to keep my attention during a grueling bus ride.

The story of The Johnstown Flood of 1889 was a well researched book that explained how the lack of money spent to AVOID a disaster was the actual cause of one of the worst disasters in American history. The story is very similar in nature to the disaster in New Orleans. However, this damn was built primarily to develop a lake in order to apease the appetites of a few very wealthy men who wanted a "getaway in the mountains." Despite repeated warnings of possible disaster if and when the damn would break, the exclusive executive club refused to spend money for needed repairs. The result was a horrible flood following an ususally heavy rainstorm that killed over 2,000 innocent people in the valley below, leaving thousands homeless, jobless and badly injured. Schools and libraries were distroyed along with businesses.

The story weaves in and out of the facts that were reported by newspapers, found in record books, and stories passed down through the generations. Similar in nature as in today's world, Johnstown was flooded with reporters, people wanting to help, supplies and food, etc. Of interest is the fact that this was the very first real disaster that the newly formed RED CROSS has attented. McCullough points out from records how many very poor families throughout the US sent what they could while the weathly members of the club that caused the flood gave almost nothing, nor were they ever held accountable fore the disaster.

This book is a documentary, and thus rather dry at times. However, the author did an excellent job of pulling facts together, and wrote it in such a way as to keep you interested throughout.

I definately recommend this book, and feel the person reading for the CD copy did a fine job.

There is a saying, not original to me, that events are of record, but reality is a construct. McCullough does the research necessary to state the essential facts of this historical event. This is no mean task, given all the disinformation and misinformation in the historical record. But what is even more impressive is McCullough's ability to show why there is so much inaccuracy in the writing about this event.

The power of the new media, the insatiable appetite of Americans for a story, and the raw class tensions and social issues of the time combine to create all sorts of varied efforts to construct a reality to explain the Johnstown events. Those constructs often tell us more about ourselves than they do about what really happened in Johnstown.

The early constructions magnified the death toll tenfold and seized upon all sorts of fantastic survivor stories that were patently untrue. Some shades of 9/11 here. Then the focus turned to the responsiblity of the owners of the resort on top of the dam that had rebuilt the dam. This was the class card -- rich guys who had nothing better than to do than pursue leisure (a novel concept at the time) and isolate themselves from other Americans (tapping into ancient American attitudes against elites) running a poorly built dam doomed to fail and to kill the groundlings below. This story resonated with Americans.

McCullough is exceptionally balanced and thoughtful of his treatment of the issue, and picks apart the crudest and most inaccurate attacks against the dam owners. In the end, however, there is some core truth to the theme that the rich owners' neglect contributed to the tragedy. The dam had been originally built by the State, but the reconstruction job by the resort owners was poorly engineered. The biggest flaw was the lack of any way to control the level of the dam with outlets at the bottom of the dam to let out some water. Screens at the top to keep the fish in that led to a blockage and contributed to the problems, while the most strikingly callous measure (they cared more about fish than human life), probably was a minor matter in the whole tragedy.

What's also fascinating is that the rich were not brought to account. Tort and corporate law at the time allowed the rich owners to shield personal liability behind a shell owner of the facility and difficult issues of causality rendered all the lawsuits unwinnable. Today, there would be a different result, as McCullough points out. Those decrying the "flood" of litigation in modern days may do well to consider the real floods that fear of liablity (and the concomitant insurance, risk prevention, government regulation, and professional reviews such fears engender to prevent tragedy from occurring in the first place) has prevented. The failure of the press (who were owned by some of these rich guys) and the legal system to call the owners to account tells us a lot about the entrenched power the ruled the country at the time.

The book lends itself to the audio format and is easy to follow. Mr. Herrmann is one of the top readers and does an excellet job here.

McCollough tells the tale of the flood vividly, corrects the record to tell events truthfully, and then deals with the larger social issues raised by the event. This is a extraordinarily good book.

David McCullough firmly embeds his devastating account of the Johnstown Flood in the social history of late 19th century America. The pre-flood history of the small Pennsylvania mountain villages brought to mind a combination of "The Music Man" and the "dark, satanic mills" of the Industrial Revolution (steel, in this case). Throw in a mixture of class war and the prejudice of the 'native' Americans versus the recently arrived Eastern European immigrants, and the book tells a good story even without the advent of the flood.

However, the Johnstown flood is the heart of McCullough's story and he does a very good job in building up to the book's compelling climax. When the dam above Johnstown finally gives way, you will already be on the edge of your reading chair. As usual, in a story about a disaster, there are incredibly brave people and also incredibly foolish ones. I wish McCullough had told us a bit more about the post-flood lives of some of his heroes and heroines, but that is the only real fault I can find with his story. A book like this always makes me wonder how I would have reacted in the midst of the chaos, flood, and fire that was Johnstown on May 31, 1889.

The Johnstown flood of 1889 was a subject I knew next to nothing about. McCullough traces the development of the town, the nature of the earthwork dam that breached on May 31, 1889, and the people who in one way, shape or form were connected to this event. In the end, probably over 2,000 people died due to the flood. The personal stories are shocking and heartbreaking.

David McCullough excels in describing the central elements of his story, which is a talent that makes his works so popular. The nature of the town of Johnstown, its citizens, the railroad and the industries that were critical to is being, and the rivers and natural geography of the area are examples of where description comes into play. The exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club which included such notables as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and others on its list of members also is a central element of the story. In essence, the dam created the lake that became home to this exclusive club. As the author discusses, especially at the end of his book, the nature of the work done to repair the dam during the club days certainly represented man's role in the cause of the flood, but as the author also mentions, so did the rains.

Leaders in the Pennsylvania railroad, the Cambria Iron Company and other folks from various backgrounds figure into this story. The description of the aftermath of the flood are also well told and the resulting work done to aid the victims and clear the debris. All sorts of groups contributed to the rescue of Johnstown and its people, including such groups as the Red Cross under Clara Barton's leadership, but we also learn of the journalists who inundated the area, the thieves and scoundrels who took advantage of the plight of the town, and others. The events during the flood and after are by far the most powerful parts of the book.

Obviously the search for blame figures into the last part of McCullough's narrative, as I briefly hinted at earlier. The author takes several factors and thoughts into consideration, which is only fair. Though we often seek to blame somebody or some group, it isn't always that easy. Some people left the town for good, others stayed and tried to rebuild their lives. Those who lost their families, as the author discusses, often had less reason to stay. It seems strange that these type stories make for such good reading; in fact, it seems perverse. But perhaps stories like these can offer us valuable lessons and can help us better understand the human condition, where it is good and where it is flawed.

David McCullough's first book, "The Johnstown Flood" came out in the late 1960's. It could have been written yesterday. Although it is a work of nonfiction and draws from prior historical accounts and personal memoirs, McCullough writes in such a way that it reads like a novel, building up tension and excitement for the inevitable.

It's a terrific read. McCullogh brings to life key participants, bigshots Henry Clay Frick, aka., the King of Coke; Robert Pitcairn, the powerful head of the western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Andrew Carnegie, aka., the Man of Steel; as well as local citizens of Johnstown and surrounding towns.

McCullough candidly explains the deteriorating state of the South Fork Dam, how it had become structurally unsound--and why it would fail if key corrections were not made.

For context, here is something to consider: nearly as many people died in the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as died in 9-11 World Trade Center attack in 2001.

The elite social status of the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the insularity and arrogance of Club members and the Club's ability to limit its liability following the flood are key aspects of McCullough's well-told tale.
Five stars!

David McCullough's book on the Johnstown flood will very quickly pick up your interest and not allow it to waver as the catastrophe looms and crashes over the people in the valley. Early on the reader is introduced to the people and topology of the area along with the massive earthen dam up stream from the iron town. The story soon becomes a harrowing tale of disaster with special effects surpassing anything Hollywood has ever put on the screen. The dam breaks, not just flooding the valley but destroying and sweeping everything in its way along with it. As it picks up debris, it becomes a sort of avalanche driven by water, crushing railroads, trains, trees, buildings, and of course, people. The calamity unfolds before the readers' eyes as the townspeople literally run for the hills. Cases of personal heroism permeate the story alongside stories of total loss. The result is a cross section of humanity caught in the jaws of a merciless nature. McCullough's narration eschews hyperbole and lets the dramatic event itself take certain stage. The response following the flood is well covered and very informative as well. I came into this book knowing nothing about the flood itself but as a fan of McCulloughs. I was not disappointed. The book includes several pictures of Johnstown and its people both before and after the flood which well serve the telling of the story. Anyone wishing to read either a piece of American history or a dramatic human story should pick this one up.

In ten minutes time, a flood hit the Johnstown area in 1889, killing over 2,000 people, making it the most devastating flood in our history. This is an excellent book of the history, not only the flood itself, but of the events leading to this tragedy, and how Johnstown rebounded.

The water that would ultimately create the flood was from a reservoir the state legislature funded in 1836 to support a canal system idea that ultimately was abandoned. Thus, the dam no longer had its original purpose soon after it was built.

The dam fell to neglect. The dam would found to be defective and did break on a few occasions. Yet, there was little water collected behind the dam on those occasions and any damage was minor. The state legislature faced financial difficulties and approved only intermittent construction on the bridge through 1850. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the dam at a discounted price for its right of way. This new owner neglected the bridge.

A group of wealthy people from the Pittsburgh formed the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and bought the dam to turn the dam's lake into a recreational area. Members of this club included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Fricke. The club began renovating the dam, yet a huge rain destroyed all the previous repairs.

Lumbering operations had removed much timber that would have retained much water from a flood. The water behind the dam pushed the dam away in one big motion. The riverbed was mostly rock. The first large community hit was Woodvale, who lost 314 of its approximate 1,000 population in five minutes. When the flood hit Johnstown, the flood reached at least 34 feet in height (and some estimates are that it may have reached as high as 44 feet).

The book aptly describes of the aftermath of the flood. The press stirred paranoia that ethnic groups were looting the bodies. This later proved to be false. Yet they did not stop mob beatings of members of the accused group. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was found responsible for the not properly repairing the dam in court, yet the club never paid any damages. Daniel Hastings, who achieved acclaim for his efforts in helping Johnstown rebound, would later be elected Governor. Three babies were born in Johnstown on the day of the flood, and they were given the names Flood Rhodes, Flood Raymond, and Moses Williams.

This is an excellent history of a horrible Pennsylvania disaster. It is written clearly and thoroughly describes the events of that time. This is a fantastic book for people interested in how people handle disasters, how such a flood could ever occur, and in Johnstown area history.

This is a true McCullough masterpiece. Written in his usual flowing prose, he recounts the events leading up to possibly the most catastrophic natural disaster to date in American history.

On May 31, 1889 the dam at the South Fork fishing and hunting club burst following torrential rains of some 6-8 inches. His vivid description of the aftermath, death and suffering is chilling. He provides recounts of several individual and family experiences that are touching to say the least.

The events leading up to the disaster are vividly delineated as well. The South Fork fishing and hunting club was established by a small group of super-elite Americans (e.g. Carnegie). The club was situated up the valley from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The dam that held the lake fished by the elite suffered the brunt of much scrutiny in the years preceding the disaster. Many argued that it's poor design and integrity made it vulnerable to giving way in the event of heavy rains. The dam bursting was talked about for years preceding the event. Many joked about it, but most thought such a calamitous event to be highly unlikely.

Following a late Spring holiday parade in 1889, the "impossible" occured. The dam gave way, and the lake entered the valley, sweeping locomotives, train tracks, woods, houses, stores along with it. Entire small communities were enveloped by the heap of muck and debris on the way to Johnstown. The death toll was some 2200. McCullough paints vivid pictures of the event itself as well as the suffering in the aftermath. The corpses and muck posed and immense public health threat, with a typhoid outbreak following the disaster.

The blame was quickly placed on the elite members of the South Fork fishing and hunting club for neglecting upkeep on the dam that held their precious little weekend and holiday reserve. It's a tale of early conspicuous consumption, and disturbing to find that the wealthy members of the club refused to take blame for anything.

Along the way, McCullough provides historical detail of the industrial revolution in its beginnings. The development steel mills, railroads, refineries, labor conditions, and business dealings of the financially elite are all intertwined in his recount of Johnstown.

Also, details of death counts at the make shift morgues, financial support during the aftermath (President Harrison sent a personal check in the amount of $300.00) and a list of the names of the dead bring the story to life for the reader. Eerie recounts of coroners' descriptions of corpses in their logs will make your skin crawl.

Clara Barton began organizing the American Red Cross in 1881. She had worked on more minor floods in the valley prior to 1889. Her work at Johnstown earned her dinner with the President Harrison in Washington following her five months of pure dedication in Johnstown.

This is a fantastic book. The Katrina disaster sparked my interest and I was not disappointed. If only Clara Barton were head of the Red Cross during the Katrina aftermath...

The 1889 Johnstown Flood, perhaps one of the most infamous disasters in American history, was vividly captured in this early work by biographer & historian David McCullough. His book is *the* definitive work on this subject.

McCullough masterfully creates a vivid picture of Johnstown in the 1880s - a booming industrial city with a teeming immigrant population. He parallels his story about the city of Johnstown with the area's reputation as a summer home for the steel magnates of nearby Pittsburgh, and how those two worlds would tragically collide on a rainy May day in 1889.

He goes into almost minute-by-minute detail about how the heavy rains ate away at the earthen dam that held back the private lake of the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club, and the frantic efforts to save the dam, complementing engineering reports on the dam with great storytelling as the workers tried to prevent the dam from giving way.

McCullough's finest literary moment comes when the dam does give way, and the millions of gallons of water come rushing downstream towards the unsuspecting citizens of Johnstown. It almost seems as if he is bringing the reader along for the ride, yard by yard, as the water rushes down the valley and picks up virtually everthing in is path -- railroad cars and locomotives, trees, fences, livestock, homes, etc. Again, he goes into incredible detail as the torrent of water moves downstream, and he paces this tale like a well-written suspense novel. McCullough's descriptive style made it easy for me to picture the carnage and chaos in my head before the flood hit Johnstown, and this was my favorite part of the book.

When the flood finally reached the city, it sloshed back and forth against a RR bridge and the nearby hills like a kid playing in a bathtub, killing some 2,000 people and virtually levelling the entire city. The author's details again shine through as he describes the suprisingly well-orchestrated attempts by the city fathers and others to help the living and the dead and get the city back on its feet.

Even if you do not regularly read historical works of nonfiction, McCullough's book is fast paced and does an excellent job of holding the reader's attention. He also does not weight the book down by sidetracking the story with minutiae, but uses fine details when they are needed. This work not only gives a exhaustive account of a famous American disaster, but is a colorful window into industrial-era America.

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!

"The Johnstown Flood" is an excellent vehicle for describing the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th Century and the culture of those times and David McCullough does both superbly with this book. An intimate discussion of the Steel industry and it's relationship to towns just like Johnstown is framed by the gruesome details of the disaster and, as always in a David McCullough book, in a highly personal way that draws in the reader and lets him be a part of the story. We get the all important background of the development of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting club as well as the building/maintaining history of the Dam. The storm and it's affect on not only Conemaugh Lake, but all the surrounding tributaries (as they integrate to form the lake) is described in such terms as to give the reader the portent of the coming disaster. The "human" story is combined with the tragic reality of the "wall of water" as it carves it's path through the countryside and it gives the reader the perspective needed to see the true devastation to the towns. The only critiques to this book that I'd even mention are that I would have liked to have read more on the floods' path as it passed Johnstown and went through Cambria City and how it subsequently dissapated (we read how debris and bodies are discovered all the way into Pittsburgh, for example). Also, the story of how the town was re-built and a disclosure of any monuments to the disaster that exist today would have closed the story out for me a little better...but these are very minor omittances and they don't detract from the central theme at all. Overall, this book is just another in the long line of fabulous historical writings that David McCullough has made into an art form and is highly recommended.

I can't think of a better written book of an historical event. There might be some who are equal to it, but not better. I read this book because I had read McCullough's book on Harry Truman many years ago and he made me "fall in love" with Harry Truman. Any author who can make me love a non fiction, historical and political tome is a fabulous writer. There are writers who equally do their homework and research but who haven't the ability to bring you into the scene as does McCullough. His descriptions of the people who lived through the flood shows not only his meticulous research but his ability to make you feel the fear and terror that they lived through,while also making it clear to the reader what the inherent problems were, why the flood occurred and who was to blame. I am certainly going to make it a point to read more of his work.

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.

This book tells about the famous Johnstown Flood on Friday, May 31, 1889 that killed over 2209 people who lived downstream from a poorly maintained dam that gave way after heavy rainfall. Those who died of exposure, injuries, or typhoid after the first day were not counted.
The arrival of the canal around 1820s made Johnstown the busiest place in Cambria county. In the 1850s the Pennsylvania Railroad came through, the Cambria Iron Company began, and the population increased. There were about 30,000 people in the area before the flood. Life was simple, pleasures few. On Sunday people would go walking out to neighboring boroughs. There were 123 saloons in the greater Johnstown area, as in other steel towns.
The Western Reservoir was built in the 1840s, but became generally known as the South Fork dam. It was to supply extra water for the Main Line canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh. By saving the spring floods, water could be released during the dry summers. The Portage Railroad lifted the canal boats over the Alleghany Mountain to the canal to Philadelphia.
The dam was built on successive layers of "puddled" clay. The outer wall was riprapped with loose rocks, the inner face with stones. Five cast iron pipes two feet in diameter, set in a stone culvert, released the water to flow to the South Fork and the Little Conemaugh to Johnstown. Earth dams were used for thousands of years; they work as long as no water spills over the top, or no internal seepage develops.
When the dam was completed in 1852, the Pennsylvania Railroad completed the track from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the canal business began its decline. The state offered to sell the canal, the Penna RR bought it for the right of ways. The neglected dam broke for the first time in 1862. The repair work
was done by unqualified people; the discharge pipes were blocked up! Rains in 1879 and 1881 caused damage.
Floods were a recurring problem in Johnstown during the 19th century. A growing population needed space, trees disappeared from the hills and mountains, the river channels were narrowed for more buildings and bridges. The forests retain enormous amounts of water in the soil (800 tons per acre), the soil itself, and snow. Spring thaws and summer thunderstorms would
send torrents down the hills; flooding became worse each year (p.65-66). But people believed that a dam break would not cause much trouble.
In 1880 the manager of the Cambria Iron Works (a competitor of Carnegie) had the dam inspected. Two problems were found: there was no discharge pipe to reduce water in the dam, and, the previous repair left a leak that cut into the dam. This advice was rejected, even after their offer to pay for repairs. The Cambria Iron Works was bigger than any in Pittsburgh before the Civil War (p.61).
There were four other changes to the dam that were crucial. The height of the dam was lowered, reducing the height between the crest and the spillway. A screen of iron rods were put across the spillway, which would decrease the its capacity when clogged by debris. The dam sagged in the center so it was lower than at
the ends; the center should have been highest and strongest. Lastly, the club brought the level of the lake nearly to the top; there was no reserve capacity for a severe storm.
On the morning of May 31, 1889 flooding began after heavy rains; it seemed to be worse than the 1887 flood. A man was sent to South Fork to warn the people that the dam might give way, and to telegraph a warning to Johnstown. It was not heeded - they heard
that before! Three warnings were telegraphed down the valley. By 12:30PM a 50 to 60 foot wide sheet of water started to flow over the dam. By 2PM the waters had cut a notch in the center of the dam. The dam seemed to push out all at once, not break, at 3:10PM (p.100). It took about 40 minutes for the lake to empty, with the force of Niagara at the Falls, flowing at about 40 MPH (p.102). The rest of the book tells of the flood and the investigations.
The picture of Andrew Carnegie makes me wonder if he had been used as the model for "Santa Claus". Building and paving hills and mountains will increase the flood risk, then or now.

The Johnstown Flood is a powerful work of historical writing that brings us to a time and place far removed from our present world. Johnstown was an isolated city, built and populated by working class people. Some got rich from local steel mills, but most remained solid working class. The population came from many places - especially Europe. However, all people seemed to work together for the betterment of their own lives. Then a major flood occurs that defies all boundaries between people, leaving both the rich and the poor devastated. Outsiders were blamed for the destruction, yet rebuilding started immediately thanks to donations from average people both in the United States and in Europe.

Wait a minute - this sounds eerily familiar. Can we say World Trade Center? Can we say New Orleans (Katrina)? Can we say Miami (Andrew)? Can we say...

This is the power of this book. It describes a disaster that was tied to time and place and yet it is very relevant to the way that we still deal with disasters today. The more things change the more they stay the same.

The Johnstown Flood is very well written. David McCullough's books are always very engaging, and this one is no exception. It is a real page turner and well worth reading.

This early work of David McCullough has all the pace, colour and excitement of his later works, even though the theme is much more concentrated in time and action. In contrast to the engineering triumphs that celebrated in "The Great Bridge" and "The Path between the Seas", the subject matter here is a piece of outright engineering idiocy, an inevitable disaster waiting to happen for several years. Cupidity and callousness also play a major part in the story and two of the players with the more disreputable roles, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick, will go on to even worse ones in the Homestead Strike, a few years after the events described here. McCullough's book first appeared in the 1960s, when the last of the survivors were still alive and this lends an immediacy to the story which still persists. Excellent use is made in the narrative of contemporary accounts and testimonies, with the author playing the role of judicious referee where contradictions or exaggerations may be in question. The pace and colour of the writing draws in the reader from the first page and by the time the dam is breached and the massive wall of water is roaring down the high-walled Conemaugh valley towards the doomed city it is quite impossible to lay the book aside. The individual stories of loss and survival, of heroism, cowardice, greed and sacrifice are blended to make an indelible impression. At the end one can only marvel that so few died in the catastrophe and that the ultimately responsible parties got off so lightly. This book deserves to stand as a minor classic, commemorating not only the disaster itself but also providing a freeze-frame picture of the United States at the point of transition from Gilded Age to Industrial Giant. A very memorable book - highly recommended.

A mountain valley was dammed to create a lake for the recreation of a bunch of rich men, and then when someone noticed that the dam was unsound the rich men chose to ignore the warnings! A particularly rainy season filled the lake to capacity and the already-stressed dam gave way. Mr. McCullough begins quietly by describing the ordinariness of the lives of the people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, and then he shifts to the dissolving dam. It is truly horrifying to realize that it was doomsday for those people. The description of the wall of water surging down the valley, sweeping everything in its path along with it, including the buildings and inhabitants of Johnstown, until it finally slammed into the railroad bridge is one of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever read. The aftermath was indescribable but reporters from all over the country tried, and their tales in the newspapers captured the minds of the American people who rushed to aid the victims. Today, we are jaded by overexposure to the media, but we can still be shocked by the callous disregard that the rich men had for the safety of the "little" people in the valley, and we can still admire the indomitable spirit of the survivors. This is a superb narrative of a horrible event. My highest praise goes to Mr. McCullough.

I actually went to read this book because I enjoy David McCullough's writing so much. I can see how as he has continued writing over the years, his writing has gotten stronger and much tighter. He had the talent to write a great first book on a natural/man-made catastrophe. As a first book, it is not as well written as his others, but the information that he researched so well was magnificent. I had read other versions of the Johnstown flood in the Smithsonian, but this one gave significantly more information. It has always been assumed that Carnegie and the other wealthy owners of the club were solely responsible for the condition of the dam above Johnstown. But there were many times that others, including the residents of Johnstown, were equally known to have concerns about the dam, yet no one did anything about it. Earthen dams have broken since then including one above Rick's College in Idaho. They are not as reliable as well engineered dams such as Hoover Dam in Arizona. Yes, the wealthy men chose not to do much at the time of the incident, but Carnegie spent the rest of his life giving to various charities, partially out of guilt probably for what happened at Johnstown. McCullough does a fair job presenting all sides of what happened, and as I stated, his research is impeccable. This is history written in its finest form, without yellow journalism. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

David McCollough is one of my favorite writers of American history and biography. While his account of the Johnstown Flood is not one of his best works, it is nevertheless very enlightening and educational.

In the mid 19th century, the government constructed an earthen dam across South Fork Creek in the Allegheny Mountains for the purpose of ensuring an adequate water supply for a series of canals in the area. Soon after, the Pennsylvania Railroad made the canals obsolete and the dam fell into disrepair.

Several decades later, the newly wealthy industrialists in the Pittsburgh area (men with names such as Carnegie, Frick and Phipps) discovered the area around the dam and purchased it in the name of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The old dam was negligently reconstructed and a large lake (Lake Conemaugh) provided a summer resort for the upper class of Pittsburgh.

Fast forward nine years to Memorial Day 1889. One of the largest deluges in recorded history not only flooded the Little Connemaugh River valley (including Johnstown, population 20,000) but dangerously overfilled Lake Connemaugh. With no way to release the excess water, the lake soon spilled over the top of the dam, eroding the weakened center of the dam and ultimately collapsing it.

An enormous volume of water then proceeded to roar down the narrow, enclosed valley, stripping everything in its path. By the time it reached Johnstown, approximately 13 miles away, it had stripped the entire valley of all vegetation and personal property in its path, generating a wall of water and debris sometimes reaching up to 70 feet in height. When it encountered the town of Johnstown, where the Little Connemaugh meets the larger Stony Creek, utter destruction ensued.

McCollough does his usual meticulous job of researching and telling all aspects of this great American tragedy. The background of the dam's failure, the details of the hours encompassing the tragedy itself and the response of various segments of society in the days and weeks thereafter, all tell us much about our society and the American spirit, both good and bad.

Even though I lived in Southwestern PA for most of my life, I knew very little about the Johnstown flood until my sister made a comment once about the Johnstown Flood Museum, and one day this book just jumped out at me at the library. I found it difficult to put down. Some may think it "drags" in parts, but this was part of the tapestry woven to give realism to the actual people caught up in the disaster. I had heard of vague references to this event, but until I read this book I had no idea of the full scale of what happened, and the unbelievable circumstances which led up to it. Even more appalling was that folks who belonged to the "elite" club, whose selfishness and greed gave rise to the shoddily built dam, (such as Carnegie, Mellon, and the like) gave very little money to the relief effort, and no one from South Fork would acknowledge any responsibility for the dreadful event. Through this book, McCullough puts personality to the names and faces of the victims, and the full terror of the actual flood wave coming toward the town reads better than any suspense novel, as it is all true. I urge anyone who ever finds themselves in the Johnstown area to check out the actual Flood Museum, it is a memorable experience.

I read this book subsequent to seeing the excellent Charles Guggenheim Academy Award winning 1/2 hour film that was expanded to One Hour and shown on TV as part of the excellent 'American Experience' series of documentary films.
This is the first book ever written by David Mc Cullough.
The Johnstown Flood is the single best, most enlightening, and accurate account of the scandalous, and trajic American Disaster that occured back on the last day in May 1889, and its aftermath, which speaks volumes about the generous nature, and wonder that are the American people. After the dismal disgrace of New Orleans after Katrina, this book is an account of how far we have declined as a nation in responding to our fellow Americans when they are desperate. I became a david mc Cullough fan after reading this, and any student of history will almost certainly feel the same after absorbing this book. I have recommended it to many freinds, and every single one thanked me profusely for having done so.

David McCullough tells the story of one of the most horrendous floods to occur in the US history in his forthright book, THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. In his eloquent style of prose that reads like a novel, McCullough tells the unfortunate tale of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a small mill and fishing town, which was hit on May 30, 1889, Memorial Day. Six to eight inches of rain fell on this small working class town, which was comprised of a microcosm of ethnicities who emigrated from Europe and the United Kingdom as well as a few Negroes.

McCullough provides detailed information about the flood that killed 2,000 people. The tremendous rainfall destroyed the local dam, and as a result families and individuals were swept by the floodwaters. He vividly describes the residents who attempted to escape, and were fortunate to survive as well as those who perished in the process. Within his narrative he offers the voices of those who recounted that fateful day. At the end of the book, McCullough respectively lists the thousands of names of people who perished, and presumably were victims of the event. This may be the most heart wrenching aspects of the book in addition to McCullough's narrative.

McCullough intertwines events that shaped history. He stresses the significance of technological advancements that occurred during the last part of the nineteenth century, such as, the telegraph, the telephone, and the presence of the steel industry; through eyewitness accounts and archival material, McCullough reveals the irony of the event, which was linked to the construction of the dam, and the heed of warnings that were ignored. In the aftermath of the flood, it was shameful to read how national and local newspapers treated the event - "staged" photo opportunities and inconsistencies with the facts.

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD is an unforgettable story. For those who enrich their minds with events of the past, history offers its lessons. Indeed, this is a story where one will read and understand how Johnstown, Pennsylvania has a place in American history.

Interesting book about the flood of 1889 in Johnstown and the surrounding area. It started slow as Mr. McCullough sets up the players and the places in the story. After the scene is set it got better as he describes the flood, the townspeople, and the aftermath to the town and the people in the path of the flood. This is one of his short books.

A small group of wealthy people wanted to build a lake in the mountains to beautify their haven away from the city. Someone forgot to tell them that water runs downhill, so you better build one heckuva strong damn to hold that lake. Hard to believe that such capricious arrogance could condemn so many people to an awful death.
McCullough is a great story teller. Perhaps he stretches his research or his creditbility at times with attempts to infer motives or describe thoughts, but this does not take away from the historical fact: One fateful day, the dam burst, poured down a narrow valley, and swamped the poor citizens of Johnston. The power of the water was such that it swept up the wooden houses, drove them against a stronger bridge across the river, and created an inferno that burned people alive. McCullough does an excellent job of reporting the decisions that led to this tragedy and the horrible events of that fateful day. And then there were the incriminations.
Highly recommended for any student of history.

Johnstown Flood. David McCullough. 1967. 304 Pages.

This was a good book. I read it as a prelude to David McCullough's lecture on 21SEP2006 in Scranton. The book is 70% social history (it was written in 1967!). It is well written and the photos are interesting. About 15% is prelude to disaster, setting the scene. About 20% is post disaster, recovery. Some of that is quite interesting. Apparently the immigrant group moving in and taking cheap labor jobs were the Hungarians (Hunkies). Well, during the recovery there were reports in the press (vilifications really) of roving bands of looting, dead desecrating, raping, killing etc all done by these Hungarians. Except they were not called Hungarians, they were labeled the Huns. Though the drawings of them were stereotypical Hungarians with their big mustaches etc. The bulk then is on the disaster ... the big raging wall of water which passed through Johnstown in 10 minutes flat.

The flood that destroyed Johnstown, PA was felt as far downstream as Pittsburgh. The flood (and ensuing fire in the rubble of the town) claimed 2,000 lives, and wiped a town from the face of the earth.
It didn't have to be that way. Deferred maintenance on the dam whose failure spelt doom for Johnstown was, according to McCullough, the deciding factor in the collapse. The storm, which finally put the dam down, was merely the inevitable stimulus; the breeze against a house of cards. McCullough, without hysterical blame-placing--indeed, almost tacitly--places responsibility gently, but no less convincingly, on the appropriate shoulders, and, in doing so, makes a powerful statement about 19th-century class structures
Couple the social commentary with a hair-raising narrative style (the train racing with the wave-front, whistle tied open, still sticks in my mind, many months after reading), and McCullough produces top-notch, exquisitely researched, gripping (though perhaps a bit thin), popular history.
I heartily recommend _The Johnstown Flood_.

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.

A little known event (at least to me) in a little known place (at least to me) that happened well over 100 years ago...who would have thought that it could be the basis for a very fascinating and riveting story.
Being somewhat of a history buff, especially of 19th century United States, I was drawn to this book of course by it's famous author.
The story reads very well, eyewitness accounts can only begin to describe the horrible event that took place at that time. It can be disputed whether this could really be called a natural disaster as one chapter is aptly named "our misery is the work of man" , but having seen today the devestating effects that water can have when uncontrolled (Hurricanes, Tsunamis) makes you appreciate living on higher ground!
A very good book - highly recommended to others.

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.

The Johnstown flood is one of the worst 3 disasters on American soil. Topped only by sept 11 and the galveston flood of 1900, the Johnstown flood killed thousands, did humungous property damage, and showed the differences betwixt rich and poor.

I learned so much history from this book. Being from PA, I cannot believe I never really even knew about this, except we still pay a tax on liquor because of this tragedy. But the way Mr. McCullogh told the back story, the story of the devestation, and the after effects... it was informative and gripping.

There were parts of the story that were rather hard to pace. Also, there were so many characters introduced that when their final fates were told in the end, it was in some cases hard to place them. But over all, I really enjoyed this book.

(*)>

With a remarkable economy of descriptive language, McCullough chronicles the horrors of the natural and social disaster of the 1889 Johnstown flood. American innovation and rapid industrialization had generated an increasingly complex economy with its benefits and woes. Much of this story is about realization of the new phenomena of society's mega-rich and their interactions with the rest of society. This story is a graphic description of how weather, extreme wealth, industry, rapid social and human nature can be combined to yield all sorts of effects. It is by no means a must read but a remarkably bright piece of social history that exercises the imagination and diffuses many of history's more detailed lessons.

At the time, (May 31, 1889) the Johnstown flood was the biggest news story in the nation since the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. A total of 2,209 residents perished when the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club dam broke. To this end, author David McCullough documents the incredible story in meticulous (and objective) detail. In doing so...he also provides a heartbreaking account of what went wrong.

The South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club was an elite organization of the super rich and powerful. Members included, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Philander Knox and Robert Pitcairn. McCullough concludes that the club tampered drastically with the natural order of things and had done so badly. Moreover, the club ravaged much of the mountain country's protective timber, which caused dangerous flash runoff following mountain storms; they obstructed and diminished the capacity of the rivers; and they bungled the repair and maintenance of the dam. "Perhaps worst of all they had failed...out of indifference mostly...to comprehend the possible consequences of what they were doing, and partiularly what those consequences might be should nature happen to behave in anything but the normal fashion," which according to McCullough was exactly what was to be expected of nature.

The New York Times concluded that the cause of the flood was an engineering crime...that the dam was of inferior construction. Other publications reported the nation simmered with deep seated resentment of the rich. On a positive note, the help and aid to Johnstown was the greatest ourpouring of charity that the nation had ever seen. Additionally, the doctors, nurses and sanitation crews did a "spectacular" job of preventing a typhoid epidemic. And finally the author does not fail to report the countless others who went beyond the call of duty to perform tremendous acts of bravery. Unfortunately, the club members were never held accountable and were disgustingly "stingy" with disaster funding. On that note, a poem by Isaac Reed accurately captured the moment in history;

Many thousand human lives...
Butchered husbands, slaughtered wives,
Mangled daughters, bleeding sons,
Hosts of martyred litte ones,
(Worse than Herod's awful crime)
Sent to heaven before their time;
Lovers burnt and sweethearts drowned,
Darlings lost but never found!
All the horrors that hell could wish,
Such was the price that was paid for...fish!

Bert Ruiz

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.

As an avid reader from age 10 to present, having read over a thousand books or more, this it the ABSOLUTE BEST BOOK that I have read. I took the book with me to read during our summer vacation in Potter County, PA where my brother-in-law is President of a hunting cabin. This is located perhaps 100+ miles away, so I decided it was the 1st book that I would read during the week of 8/11 to 8/18, 2007.

Mr. McCullough must have boundless energy, a great I.Q., and a patient intensity of research ability,for there is tremendous details written within. Example: after all the mass of houses,trees,dead horses,human corpses,and anything else that you can imagine, washed down and jammed up at the large stone bridge west of Johnstown and lodged there, after round the clock efforts of all types including a large locomotive trying to budge the jam loose - and failed, it was finally set free to wash down the Conemaugh River by a tremendously huge charge of dynamite. Approximately 8 days later in a small town along this river, a live baby with a birthmark on its neck was pulled from the cradle it was carried in along the river. Long story made short - the baby was eventually recovered by her mother, a survivor of the flood, by identfying the birthmark! Numerous such incidents amazed me, and despite the lure of taking a hike in the mountains or fishing in a native trout stream nearby, I stayed on the open deck of the cabin and read on and on. I could not put the book down.

Everybody needs to read this book. I was reminded of the lifestyle of one generation to the next and how the millionaires who built the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were ultimately responsible for this devasting flood. And if you do read this book, you might find yourself taking on a new perspective of life.

Please don't fail to read it. You also will include it in your list of alltime greatest books. Buy it immediatately!!

This early McCullough book provides a look at one of the most catastrophic disasters to strike America. The Johnstown Flood destroyed more than 2500 lives and changed the landscape of western Pennsylvania. It moved the nation towards relief efforts and spurred a country to act on behalf of their common man. As always the author captures the people and the time in stunning clarity and really puts the reader there giving them a first person perspective on what happened to the people. After living in Pennsylvania for more than six years I found that few people really knew about the flood but this book does an excellent job of filling the blanks. If you want to see a trying story told in wonderful detail this is the place to start.

David McCullough is one of our best modern "popular" history writers. One of McCullough's first books is The Johnstown Flood (1968). This short (for McCullough) history of 286 pages tells how, during terrific storms, an earthen dam above Johnstown, Pennsylvania burst, causing the death of more than 2,000. McCullough is superb both at analyzing why the dam collapse was preventable and in describing the course of the flood itself, including its wake of tragic deaths and amazing stories. This is not a happy read, because the tragedy was both so huge and so preventable (A sorry epilogue of the flood is that none of the several lawsuits was successful). It is, however, so spellbinding and well-told that it begs to be read in one sitting.

Great book full of sorrow,sadness and pure negligence. Interesting individual scenarios of what the different families did during the Great Flood and the clean-up efforts after. If you like disasters,this will , be a good book to read. The author David McCullough is an awesome writer.I have read . Several of his books and heartily recommend.

Lake Conemaugh was a scenic man-made mountain lake retained by an aging 72-foot earthen dam. The lake and acreage around it was owned, maintained and enjoyed by the wealthy members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. On May 31, 1889, at 3:15 p.m., the 1 mile wide, 2.5 mile long, 60 foot deep lake emptied completely into the valley below. The South Fork dam, weakened from days of unusually heavy rains, caved as the lake water crested over the top of the dam, spilling a wall of water into the narrow Conemaugh River valley. About 20 million tons of water raced towards Johnstown, 14 miles West and 450 feet below the dam. Five towns built along the Conemaugh River were obliterated and each town added to the debris that quickly churned its way towards Johnstown. Within an hour, a massive wall of debris - hundreds of shattered houses and buildings, uprooted trees, boulders, miles of barbed wire from the Woodvale Wire Company, several locomotives weighing 170,000 pounds each, railroad tracks and hundreds of animals and humans both dead and alive, reached Johnstown.

David McCullough's book details one of the most devastating disasters in U.S. history. Although difficult to read in parts, this horrific and haunting true story of the 1889 Johnstown, PA, flood is a page turner. McCullough's writing is profoundly descriptive in a manner that the reader can easily imagine the era and understand the character of the hardworking townsfolk of the prosperous steel and coal town of Johnstown.

Was this a natural disaster or human error due to the arrogance of a few wealthy people? You decide.