Disaster Great Lakes

By Megan Long

Book Overview

Disaster Great Lakes chronicles nearly fifty of the most dramatic events to strike these vast inland seas and surrounding communities. Violent, unpredictable weather has brought down ships from War of 1812 schooners to the legendary Edmund Fitzgerald. On shore, great fires have devastated the young cities of Chicago and Toronto, and cut huge swaths through the forests leaving thousands dead or homeless. Train wrecks, explosions and environmental disasters such as the Love Canal have become painful catalysts of change. The human core in all its complexity is revealed by the many compelling ways people respond in times of crisis. Richly told and illustrated, this book includes a concise list of the worst catastrophes in the history of the Great Lakes region, both American and Canadian.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1882376889
• ISBN13: 9781882376889
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (MI)
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Interesting, but sections are sometimes too short

In this interesting book, Canadian author Megan Long presents some 47 disasters that occurred in the Great Lakes region of North America. Everything is presented here from ships that foundered during storms, through great fires (including the Great Chicago Fire) and man-made disasters (Love Canal), to modern-day plane crashes, and the stories range from 1780 to 1979. Overall, I found this to be an interesting book, with a lot of nice black-and-white pictures and illustrations. The one thing I do have against the book is that, due to its wide reach, it necessarily must skimp on details. For example, the information on the Michigan timber fires of 1871 and 1881 is limited to a few paragraphs, and contains frustratingly few details. But, that said, I did find this to be an interesting book, one that gave me a number of interesting bedtime reading sessions. It has nice short sections that allow you to easily pick the book up, read for a very short period of time, and then put it down, ready to be picked up later. If you want a quick look at Great Lakes disasters, then this is definitely a book you should read!