MISSISSIPPI RIVER TRAGEDIES - Christine A. Klein & Sandra B. Zellmer

I grew up in a small town on the shore of the Upper Mississippi River (in fact, the city was built on an island in the river) It's always been a 'presence' and its flood stage is always monitored every spring. I have boated, canoed, fished, and swum in the river. Of course the river has fascinated me and books about the river can be found on bookshelves so this definitely caught my eye.

As much fun as the river can be, I'm also aware that it can never be taken for granted and to always be cautious of its unforgiving power. Tragedies along the river occur with sad regularity. I don't think there's a year that goes by without news of some loss of life on the river with 25 miles of my hometown. A book of Mississippi River tragedies must include some pretty horrific or unique incidents.

Except...

This book isn't really about Mississippi River tragedies.  It's about Mississippi River disasters (which of course can be - almost certainly are - tragic). Even more specifically, this book is about the mistakes made by various engineers through a century, attempting to reroute or control the river, resulting is 'unnatural' natural disasters (ie flooding). 

Given the specifics of what the book is about, it is ... well, scholarly and well researched, but generally dull.  This comes across as a dissertation. I'm truly not sure who would find this book interesting.

This really got me thinking about the definition of "tragedy" because I felt a bit bamboozled by the title. According to the Cambridge dictionary tragedy is: a very sad event or situation, esp. one involving death or suffering.  And according to Merriam-Webster it is: a disastrous event : calamity (and "calamity" is defined as: a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering.

Since the focus on the book is NOT the calamity or the distress, suffering, or loss of life, but rather the mistakes and ineptitude of man trying to control nature (which results in tragedy) then I feel we are really sold something akin to clickbait with this title.

The book is a quick read - interested parties could easily read this carefully in just a matter of a few afternoons.

Looking for a good book? The tragedy of Mississippi River Tragedies by Christine A. Klein & Sandra B. Zellmer is that you don't really know what it's about until you get into it, by which time you're likely to be disappointed.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars

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Mississippi River Tragedies: A Century of Unnatural Disaster

authors: Christine A. Klein & Sandra B. Zellmer

publisher: NYU Press

ISBN: 9781479825387

hardcover, 276 pages