The Johnstown Flood

By: David McCullough

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.

Graced by David McCullough's remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing portrait of life in 19th-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. This is a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are behaving responsibly.

©1968 David McCullough (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Wow

Brilliant rendering excellent reading. My plan is to visit this location and imagine the text

Glad I listened to this incredible story

Honestly this is a strange subject to want to listen to but I found it very interesting.
To understand this great calamity and the human suffering but also the human kindness that came from it was worth the journey

Love forMcCullough Work

His works are of the highest quality! I have read almost all of his writings!

Captivating story

I got this book after visiting Johnstown and the damn up where the club had been. It is amazing how we as humans repeat the same mistakes just in different ways. ( releasing radioactive water into the a pacific comes to mind). This story is well written and the audible reader did a great job.

Thoroughly Engaging

David McCullough works are always engaging and bring the story to life. The story of the Johnstown flood was no exception and puts you in Johnstown as it happened. With vivid stories of survival and death, the story is as unbelievable as it is true.

What’s with all the pauses

I read all the reviews raving about Ed Herman’s of this book. I thought with a name like that it would be top notch. The actual narration was but what’s with all the long ridiculous pauses, some go on for seconds! How ridiculous that kind of nonsense wasn’t edited out. It wasn’t like one or two times it was multiple times and a few times it was so long I thought maybe my phone turned off. How dumb, I expected more from some hyped up name

Vivid

The story of the Johnstown Flood is the story of America in the late 1880's... robber barons, the industrial revolution, a careless disregard for human life and safety, railroads and telegraphs, the power of nature overwhelming the works of man, heroism and cowardice, disaster on an unimaginable scale followed by compassion on an even greater level.

This is the quintessential book about the flood, read by Edward Herman, one of the great actors of our day. It is detailed, fascinating and sobering.

This book is for you.

I can see the wave of water in my mind...

Aside from a paragraph in a high school history text, I knew nothing about the 1889 Johnstown Flood that killed over 2,000. David McCullough has distilled and organized a mountain of information into this very readable, heartbreaking but often humorous account.

It starts a bit slow with how the dam came to be built, abandoned, scavenged and restored... but before long I was holding my breath and then taking a slow motion ride with the wave down the mountain. At times on a floating roof, mattress or in a train car... though the small towns on the river and on into Johnstown. After reading I did an internet search of images and found I had formed very accurate pictures in my mind.

The book follows up nicely with the rush of aid (first response of the Red Cross), reporters and finishes with the resulting lawsuits. So interesting how everyone knew there was a high risk of the dam giving way, but no one prepared for it.

Good book on a topic I knew nearly nothing about.

Any additional comments?

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it was too detailed.

Another great book by David McCullough.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish. Like many of David McCullough's books, it was a beautiful retelling of an important part of American history. The events that transpired during the Johnstown Flood were unimaginable but yet so vivid as Edward Herrmann's brilliant performance brings it to life. One can not help but feel like they are there in Johnstown witnessing the flood, sharing in the shock of the devistation, the sadness as the town is ravaged, excitement in harrowing escapes, and the joy of finding loved ones still alive. This book is highly recommended and worth reading again.