A new 100th anniversary edition of the only adult book on one of the odder disasters in US history—and 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 were playing cards in Boston’s North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like roaring surf, one of them said later. Like a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence, said another. A third 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 as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour. It demolished wooden homes, even the brick fire station. The number of dead wasn’t known for days. It would be years before a landmark court battle determined who was responsible for the disaster.
“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
“Thoroughly researched . . . weaves together the stories of the people and families affected by the disaster, with often heartbreaking glimpses of their fates . . . The cleanup lasted months, the lawsuits years, the fearful memories a lifetime.”
—Randolph E. Schmid, The Associated Press
“Giving a human face to tragedy is part of the brilliance of Stephen Puleo’s Dark Tide. . . . Until they were given voice in this book, the characters who drove the story were forgotten.”
—Caroline Leavitt, The Boston Sunday Globe
Author’s Note
Prologue: Isaac’s Demons
Part One: A Monster in Our Midst
1. Deadline on the Waterfront
2. Neighborhood Weeping
3. Along the Gulf Stream
4. War and Anarchy
5. Heavy Load
Part Two: Waves of Terror
6. Before . . .
7. Engulfed!
8. “I Am Prepared to Meet my God”
9. Darkening Skies
Part Three: David vs. Goliath
10. “One of the Worst Catastrophes”
11. Factor of Safety
12. “A Sordid Story”
Epilogue
List of Deceased
Bibliographic Essay
Acknowledgments
Index
Afterword to the Anniversary Edition
- “The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 killed 21 after 2 million gallon tank erupted,” NBC News, author and book quoted
- “The Great Boston Molasses Flood: why the strange disaster matters today,” The Guardian, story on the flood and mention of Boston Public Library event
- “After 100 Years, A Look Back At Boston’s Great Molasses Flood Of 1919,” WBUR, radio interview
- “‘There was no escape from the wave’: These are the 21 victims of the Great Boston Molasses Flood,” Boston.com, author and book quoted
- “100 Years Later: Remembering Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919,” Mental Floss, book and author referenced
- “Sticking Point: Celebrating the centennial of the city’s sweetest tragedy,” Improper Bostonian, Boston Public Library event promoted
- “Why we have regulations: So people don’t get buried in molasses,” Tree Hugger, book quoted
- “Five things you need to know today, and the Great Molasses Flood,” Boston Business Journal, book recommended in “5 Things You Need to Know” list
- “Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919 still felt in effects it had on construction industry,” Curbed Boston, book referenced
- “How the Boston Molasses Disaster Ushered in the Era of Modern Regulation,” Pacific Standard, piece on flood references book and author
- “How the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 Made the World a Little Bit Safer,” Time, book referenced
- “A Deadly Tsunami Of Molasses In Boston’s North End,” NPR, write-up
- “After 100 Years, A Look Back At Boston’s Great Molasses Flood Of 1919,” NPR/Weekend Edition – Sunday, radio interview
- “‘Oh my god! Run!’: The day a deadly wave of molasses tore through Boston,” The Washington Post, book and author quoted in story on flood
- “Remembering The Great Boston Molasses Flood, 100 Years Later,” WNPR/On Point, radio interview
- “The Great Molasses Flood was Boston’s Strangest Disaster,” The Boston Globe, feature