Title: Mississippi River Tragedies: A Century of Unnatural Disaster

Author: Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer

Publisher: NYU Press 2014

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 276

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library

American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But despite our best efforts, so-called “natural disasters” continue to strike the Mississippi basin, as raging floodwaters decimate waterfront communities and abandoned towns literally crumble into the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. Mississippi River Tragedies reveals that it is seductively deceptive—but horribly misleading—to call such catastrophes “natural.”

Random pick from the library. I was a bit disappointed by the overall book, but was fascinated by the subject matter. I love micro histories and learning about a new topic. The subject matter truly is fascinating. And yet. the actual writing was a little too dry and stilted at times. I would have liked to been more sucked into the story.

Next up on the TBR pile: