Rising Tide--#19 finished

This is a book about the 1927 Mississippi flood that really devastated parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. The upper Mississippi and it tributaries were also flooding but the major damage and the focus of the book was on the South. It is a really good book, lots of good information and very interesting things going on throughout. It is not a book that is a quick read though, I was some where over a month in reading it. I really liked the beginning where he talked about James Eads and the Army Corp Engineers and their fight on river control. I really only knew the Eads name from his bridge in St Louis, I didn't know how interesting his life was, I will have to find a good book on his life, should be a good read.

The two main areas of focus of the book were the Delta region in Mississippi and New Orleans and talked about how the river affected them book leading up to the 1927 flood. Obviously the river was the main focus of the book but another major topic was the black sharecroppers and field hands and their treatment during the flood. The way they were mistreated, forced many to slip north--slipped because the landowners needed them to work fields and tried to keep them through many different means--mostly plain old force though. The book also talked about Hoover who was in charge of the relief efforts during the flood. It really put Hoover in a bad light with his dealings with the role of government and especially the treatment of the displaced blacks. Hoover really paid lip service to the conservative black leaders to keep some of the mistreatment out of the news and also to secure their support for his presidential aspirations. It was a disgusting time in the US and while Hoover wasn't a southern Democrat pushing segregation, his unfilled promises and outright using of the black leadership was terrible.

This is one of those books that really makes you think and reevaluate some of what you thought you knew. I am looking forward to another book that I have by this author about the 1919 influenza outbreak. This book has 3 WL for it so I will probably be posting it in the next day or two. I just mailed 4 books off today and am waiting for one more WL book to be accepted--Bright Shiny Morning.

Right now I am reading Rules of Vengeance and The Yacoubian Building. I have just started both, so only around 50 pages or under on both. I will probably look to add a 3rd tonight as well.