Catastrophes and Heroes
True Stories of Man-Made Disasters
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Narrated by:
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Grover Gardner
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By:
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Jerry Borrowman
About this listen
A century of the industrial age saw unprecedented leaps in technology and engineering, from the first flight of an airplane to the first flight of humans to the moon. But alongside these awe-inspiring achievements were horrible disasters caused by faulty engineering or careless judgment. Catastrophes and Heroes explores eight such disasters and recognizes the unheralded heroes who stepped up to save others in times of great danger.
Included in this collection are the stories of female phone operators who, despite being in the path of destruction after the Los Angeles St. Francis Dam collapsed in 1928, stayed on the job to warn others to evacuate, Ernest Hemingway, who assisted survivors in his own boat after a hurricane destroyed the Florida East Coast Railway in 1935, and Ernest Betts who, though knowing little first aid, saved 30 people after the streamliner train The City of San Francisco crashed in the Nevada mountains in 1939.
Filled with little-known stories and historical insights, this book explores the rich history of the marvels of engineering and technological advances in the span of a century and reveals how the perils, though disastrous, gave rise to heroism and compassion at a time when machines were supposed to do it all.
©2020 Jerrold J. Borrowman (P)2020 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In Graveyard of the Lakes, Thompson suggests that most of the accidents and deaths on the lakes have been the result of human error, ranging from simple mistakes to gross incompetence. In addition to his compelling analysis of the causes of shipwrecks, Thompson includes factual accounts of more than 100 wrecks. Graveyard of the Lakes will forever change the listener's perspective on shipwrecks.
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Graveyard of the Lakes
- By Bernard Slicker on 02-11-18
By: Mark L. Thompson
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Ruthless Tide
- The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America’s Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster
- By: Al Roker
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood - the deadliest flood in US history - from New York Times best-selling author, NBC host, and legendary weather authority Al Roker. May 1889: After a deluge of rainfall swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork Dam in central Pennsylvania. Though they telegraphed neighboring towns, warning of the impending danger, residents, used to false alarms, remained in their homes. At 3:10 p.m., the dam gave way....
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Mispronunciation bothers me
- By Tracy on 09-08-18
By: Al Roker
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His Majesty's Airship
- The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The tragic fate of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular fireball in 1930, killing more people than died in the Hindenburg disaster seven years later—has been largely forgotten. In His Majesty’s Airship, S.C. Gwynne resurrects it in vivid detail, telling the epic story of great ambition gone terribly wrong.
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O, The Humanity
- By Glenn G Poole II on 06-11-23
By: S. C. Gwynne
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The Great Quake
- How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet
- By: Henry Fountain
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in North American recorded history - the 1964 Alaska earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and swept away the island village of Chenega - and the geologist who hunted for clues to explain how and why it took place.
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Fascinating to hear the full story
- By Debby A Davis on 08-18-17
By: Henry Fountain
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A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
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7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
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The Galveston Hurricane of 1900
- The Deadliest Natural Disaster in American History
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Steve Rausch
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Prior to advanced communications, few people knew about impending hurricanes except those closest to the site. In the days before television or even radio, catastrophic descriptions were merely recorded on paper, limiting our understanding of the immediate impact. Thus it was inevitable that the category 4 hurricane would cause almost inconceivable destruction.
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The Hurricane
- By scott massey on 06-14-24
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Colossus
- Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed.
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A Political Biography of the Dam
- By Roy on 02-20-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
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Hoover Dam
- An American Adventure
- By: Joseph E. Stevens
- Narrated by: Kevin Charles Minatrea
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1931, in a rugged desert canyon on the Arizona-Nevada border, an army of workmen began one of the most difficult and daring building projects ever undertaken: the construction of Hoover Dam. Through the worst years of the Great Depression as many as five thousand laborers toiled twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to erect the huge structure that would harness the Colorado River and transform the American West.
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Enjoyed this book
- By Nancy Ann on 02-18-20
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Life on the Mississippi
- An Epic American Adventure
- By: Rinker Buck
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Seven years ago, readers and listeners around the country fell in love with a singular American voice: Rinker Buck, whose infectious curiosity about history launched him across the West in a covered wagon pulled by mules and propelled his book about the trip, The Oregon Trail, to ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Buck returns to chronicle his latest incredible adventure: building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and journeying down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
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Too Political and Divisive
- By Bill on 08-29-22
By: Rinker Buck
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Queen of the Lakes (Great Lakes Books Series)
- By: Mark L. Thompson
- Narrated by: Bill Nevitt
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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This book is an account of ships that have borne the name Queen of the Lakes, an honorary title indicating that, at the time of its launching, a ship is the longest on the Great Lakes. In one of the most comprehensive books ever written on the maritime history of the lakes, Mark Thompson presents a vignette of each of the dozens of ships that have held the title, chronicling the dates the ship sailed, its dimensions, the derivation of its name, its role in the economic development of the region, and its sailing history.
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Another masterful job by Mark Thompson
- By Dave T. on 07-05-23
By: Mark L. Thompson
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Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
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Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
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Washed Away
- How the Great Flood of 1913, America’s Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever
- By: Geoff Williams
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The incredible story of a flood of near-Biblical proportions - its destruction, its heroes and victims, and how it shaped America’s natural-disaster policies for the next century. The storm began March 23, 1913, with a series of tornadoes that killed 150 people and injured 400. Then the freezing rains started and the flooding began. It was the nation’s most widespread flood ever - more than 700 people died, hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed, and millions were left homeless.
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I love these historical narratives
- By Kim Hamacher on 07-28-15
By: Geoff Williams
What listeners say about Catastrophes and Heroes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amy Haddock
- 05-29-20
History framed through heros of tragedy
great read, well organized, no frills, I usually struggle with history books...these stories engaged me
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