Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo

“The definitive account of America’s most fascinating and surreal disaster.”—John Marr, San Francisco Bay Guardian “Narrated with gusto…[Puleo’s] enthusiasm for a little-known catastrophe is infectious.”—The New Yorker “Compelling…Puleo has done justice to a gripping historical story.”—Ralph Ranalli, Boston Globe A 100th anniversary edition with a new afterword of the only adult book on one of the odder disasters in US history—documenting the greed, disregard for poor immigrants, and lack of safety standards that led to it Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters was playing cards in Boston’s North End when they heard a tremendous crash. One firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window—“Oh my God!” he shouted to the other men, “Run!” A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston’s waterfront, disgorging its contents in a 15-foot-high wave that traveled at 35 miles per hour. It demolished wooden homes, even the brick fire station. The number of dead wasn’t known for days. Read more