Posted by Dinah on July 29, 2006, at 10:33:11
In reply to Re: Rising Tide » Dinah, posted by AuntieMel on July 28, 2006, at 17:32:42
That looks interesting. I'll have to look into it.
I think what really opened my eyes in "Rising Tide" was about the dynamiting of the levees. I'd always heard the rumors and wondered how on earth people came up with these crazy ideas. As if anyone could get away with blasting the levees.
To learn that it happened not so very long ago, in the 1920's, and how it came to happen, and how the city wouldn't even have flooded if they hadn't blasted the levees, gives me a context to put people's fears in. I can't believe something like that happened as recently as the 1920's, with the approval of government on all levels.
Learning what happened upriver in the Delta during the same flood was also enlightening to me.
I fear I'm somewhat naive. The political stuff outlined in the book didn't surprise me. The other stuff did. A lot.
It's hard to believe that something so devastating, and so relatively recent, was so soon forgotten.
poster:Dinah
thread:671160
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060610/msgs/671738.html