Why did Alice love this book?
I love books full of forgotten history, and Barry's Rising Tide is no exception.
It tells the story of the worst flood to ever hit the United States. However, it's also about so much more. It's a story about men with great hubris who tried to tame the river and failed—one of whom went on to become President.
The book also highlights the devastation brought by natural hazards to communities on the margins, showing how pre-existing racial and economic inequalities amplified the worst consequences of the flood. And though Rising Tide covers a disaster that occurred almost a century ago, it contains lessons applicable today.
4 authors picked Rising Tide as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.
An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of almost one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of African Americans north, and transformed American society and politics forever.
The flood brought with it a human storm: white and black collided, honor…