The Johnstown Flood cover art

The Johnstown Flood

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Johnstown Flood

By: David McCullough
Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 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. Americas Disaster Relief Engineering Social Sciences State & Local United States Natural Disaster

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The White Cascade cover art
The Wright Brothers cover art
Brave Companions cover art
Roads to Quoz cover art
The Great Bridge cover art
The Road Taken cover art
The Man Who Walked Backward cover art
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover art
The Great Quake cover art
Trapped! cover art
The Age of Daredevils cover art
Hoover Dam cover art
Australia's Best Unknown Stories cover art
Winter Journey cover art
Following the Equator cover art
The Road cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
I listened to this book over some weeks. So compelling was it, I hated having to stop it but actually so overwhelming I think it was probably better to do it this way. This event is skillfully brought to life by the author, thoroughly researched and very balanced. It would have been easy to apportion blame but he doesn’t seek to do this, just telling the build up to these events, the tragedy itself and the aftermath in a way that seeks to look at every aspect. This is a book that is so powerful it will stay with me.

For those who like history this is a must. It builds a picture of living in Johnstown before the flood and the appalling consequences of a major disaster.

An horrific and sad tragedy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.