Ruthless Tide: The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America's Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster

"The Today show co-host and weatherman writes a narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown flood, the deadliest in American history." —New York Times Book Review, "New & Noteworthy"

Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rain—nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours—swelled the Little Conemaugh River, engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam, built to create a private lake for a fishing and hunting club that counted among ...