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 enlarge | Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Category: EBooks
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $7.00 (41%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 40514
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Dewey Decimal Number: 551.2209778985
ASIN: B001CC7RFQ
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very interesting account of the events around the New Madrid Quake October 27, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The New Madrid earthquakes of 1812 were the most powerful quakes ever recorded in the contiguous United States. They were felt for hundreds of miles away. There are still visible effects of the quake in the area. If they had occurred today, they would have been a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, yet few people have even heard of them.
In this excellent popular history, Jay Feldman gives the reader a view of several major currents in the US at that time; the steam-powered riverboat, the Indian "Wars", the War of 1812, and slavery. This was a very tumultuous time for the young United States as they were still striving with the British, the Spanish and the Native Americans in a surge of expansion.
A murder is also thrown into the mix. Because of the quakes, a man who brutally murdered a slave was brought to justice.
Now someone writing anything other than a geology book would not be able to spend 200 pages on an actually earthquake and Feldman does attempt to. (Who would read it, other than a geologist?) He does an excellent job of weaving the aforementioned themes together to show the impact of the quake on the people and on larger movement in our culture.
Tecumseh, Andrew Jackson, and Meriwether Lewis are a few of the figures in the book.
I really enjoyed this book. Know too that there is a show about the New Madrid quakes on the history channel and Jay Feldman is featured.
A unique time February 23, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating look at the earthquakes of 1811-12 on the Mississippi River. The author does a nice job of weaving several stories together to show what the area, its people and some of the key players in American politics were like at the time. Some do not come off as very appealing characters but that is as it should be, to show people warts and all. The book is a quick read and sheds light on several less well known chapters of American history from a different perspective.
Interdisciplinary history January 31, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Along with "nanotechnology", the other big word in science at the beginning of the 21st century is "interdisciplinary". Specifically, many future technological advances will be made at the points where different sciences meet. For example, genetic engineering arises from the meeting of biology with nanotechnology. This push for interdisciplinary science is affecting the social sciences also, as the events of human history are being revisited and re-examined with an eye towards geology, climate change, ecology, etc, etc... Such is this book titled "When the Mississippi Ran Backwards...". Written by Jay Feldman, this book shows how a geological event, such as a series of massive earthquakes, can change the course of human history even if the earthquake itself does not kill that many people. The earthquakes in question here are the New Madrid earthquakes centered on the Mississippi basin in 1813 - 1814. The quakes themselves destroyed buildings throughout the region of what is now Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouria, Arkansas and Alabama. But what is more important is what people did in response to these quakes. This then is the focus of this book.
First, the Native American leader Tecumseh had previously used the threat of quakes to rally tribes to his banner in their fight against whites. When the quakes did occur, it made many Native Americans true believers in the skills of Tecumseh. Rallying to his cause, they fought all-out against Americans in the war of 1812, a war which resulted in their destruction and the loss of many of their lands.
Second, the quake turned the Miss. River into a graveyard for ships of all sizes and makes... except for one, a steamship that had just got underway. This steamship survived the roiling waters and managed to even help in the rescue of some people. The resulting fame convinced many that steamships were the wave of the future with regards to travel on the Ole Miss.
The book covers other effects due to the quakes, such as the first ever federal relief project for a natural disaster. The book makes for a great read, very interesting and enjoyable. The book also clearly illustrates how Mother Nature can affect the actions of humans and change our history.
If only all history books were this well researched.. January 18, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Any time an author includes a sentence beginning with 'The county court records..in 1810' in a book, you know that he has leafed through a lot of material to get his facts...
I love reading well researched and written history and this book is both. As one reviewer stated, the book does jump around, but for the most part, the book revolves around the earthquakes and the role that they played in events that Feldman is describing (the discovery of the murder victim, the Creek War etc).
My only problem with the book is that I think Feldman placed a little too much emphasis on the role that earthquakes played in the Creek War as he writes "The Creek nation...was broken, its demised, hastened, at least partly, by the New Madrid Earthquakes." This is a stretch...
Also, why he included the Battle of New Orleans in this book is beyond me. The battle took place in 1815, the earthquakes in 1811 - 1812. Yes his description ties up a few loose ends, ie The War of 1812, and was probably interesting to anyone not familiar with it, but to the rest of us, it was anticlimactic.
Overall though, this was a very enjoyable read that I would recommend.. After all, if you already know about the Battle of New Orleans you can just skip the end and read Remini's book on the subject...
Love this book!! December 25, 2005
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
As a mom of small children, I don't get much time to read- so when I tell you I read this book twice- that's got to say something!!! I loved this book and all the other reviews pretty much cover why-
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