Rising Tide

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America

By: John M. Barry

Narrated by: Barry Grizzard

Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

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 greatest natural disaster this country has ever known, the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.

©1997 John M. Barry (P)1998 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.

Critic reviews

"It is a gripping narrative...Rising Tide stands not only as a powerful story of disaster but as an accomplished and important social history, magisterial in its scope and fiercely dedicated to unearthing the truth." (The New York Times Book Review)

Disappointing so far

The topic is of great interest to me. But the author devotes too much space to developing a dramatic rivalry that isn’t that interesting and not enough to the science itself.

The reader is also working too hard on the drama.

The drama should come from what was known or not known about rivers, levees etc and what the consequences were in terms of success or failure.

Not one guy being a jerk.

Should be unabridged

Great book but the unabridged version in print is much better. Still worth it. Good.

I learned something new about Mississippi

I learned a little something about Mississippi through this book. I learned there were people that to some degree lived in racial harmony in a town called Greenville in Mississippi. I'm grateful for people like the Percy's who attempted to be human at least for a short while towards others regardless of race. This was a very good read.

Sad that this is abridged

Unfortunately this story was abridged. It would’ve been so much better had the whole book been read.

My error in not securing this work as a full through read

The story (as with most historical stories of hubris) is compelling. A strong mix of entanglements involving politics, race, ego and science drew me close to the era. However, the narration by Barry Grizzard made the book fully come to life. Excellent.

a little dry, but good

probably the best way I can describe this book.. the writing and presentation are a little dry, but when the closing music started I honestly felt like "dang it, I'm ready to hear MORE from the regional/social/political/etc viewpoints!!"
very informative book, growing up in 80s 90s Louisiana, I'd heard something about Hoover, about "the great flood", about Percy.. but this gave a great review of that era and filled in a knowledge gap.
AND.. I was supposed to read this book for college.. never got past 1st chapter.. NOW its finally done.. 20+ years later, lol!!

Fascinating

Politics, history all types, family, social, science. Incredibly researched.
Wonderful read, highly recommended, great story well told, need I say more?

Mixture of politics, race and engineering

I very much enjoy books like this that present the engineering wrapped inside an excellent study of the people and the politics of complex times. The reader is extremely talented and makes the book very exciting. The story starts around 1840 and leads into the 1930's. I was very fascinated with the story of the Percy family of Greenville MS and of course with the politics of New Orleans. The section that discusses the conflicts between EADS and Humphreys is also very entertaining.

relevant!

I have listened twice, and it is quick. Power and water over people (again). amazing! Relevant and expansive.

a panoramic view of a bygone era

This author is new to me. This book was well written. The narrator's voice was pleased and moving with the required inflections necessary to bring the stories to life.