Book Business' The Best We Read 2012
James Sturdivant, Senior Editor
The Johnstown Flood, By David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 1987)
McCullough chronicles one of those watershed events in American history (no pun intended) that everyone has heard of but few know much about. McCullough's book, built around survivor's stories, manages to capture the scope and horror of the flood without losing sight of its effect on individual lives. Johnstown was a man-made disaster and cultural event which changed the way we respond to crisis, both on the ground and in the media. The rumors and misinformation about the flood that initially made it to the front pages of newspapers around the country, quickly corrected or mitigated by first-hand reporting, reminds us of the news response to the Newtown massacre. Stories of heroism, tragedy and suffering transfixed the nation, though surprisingly, the political response was muted.
- People:
- Alex Schwartz
- Annie Barrows
- Carl Zimmer
- Charles Lamb
- Christopher McDougall
- Christopher Wren
- David Foster Wallace
- David McCullough
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- James Sturdivant
- Jane Mendelsohn
- John Locke
- Juliet Ashton
- Katherine Dunn
- Mary Ann Shaffer
- Mike Cooper
- Nancy Milford
- Nate Silver
- Paco Underhill
- Robert Boyle
- Robert Hooke
- Roger Federer
- Sandor Katz
- Sean Howe
- Steve Jobs
- Thomas Willis
- Todd Andrlik
- Tommy James
- Walter Isaacson
- William Harvey
- Zelda Fitzgerald





