Product Description

"Dark Tide is the definitive account of America's most fascinating and surreal disaster." —John Marr, San Francisco Bay Guardian

Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston's waterfront, disgorging its contents as a fifteen-foot-high wave of molasses that briefly traveled at thirty-five miles an hour. Dark Tide tells the compelling story of this man-made disaster that claimed the lives of twenty-one people and scores of animals and caused widespread destruction.

Dark Tide has been selected as a "town-wide reading book" for five Massachusetts communities including Holliston, Mass.

"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, the volume weaves together the stories of the people and families affected by the disaster . . . The cleanup lasted months, the lawsuits years, the fearful memories a lifetime." —Randolph E. Schmid, 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, Boston Sunday Globe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100451 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-16
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 273 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this volume, Puleo, a contributor to American History magazine, sets out to determine whether the collapse of a molasses tank that sent a tidal wave of 2.3 million gallons of the sticky liquid through Boston's North End and killed 21 people was the work of Italian anarchists or due to negligence by the tank's owner, United States Industrial Alcohol. Getting into the minds of the major players in the disaster-USIA suits, victims, witnesses, North End residents, politicians-he re-creates not only the scene but also the social, political and economic environments of the time that made the disaster more than just an industrial accident. While the collapse's aftermath is tragic, the story itself is not exactly gripping. More interesting are the tidbits of Boston's and America's history, such as the importance of molasses to all U.S. war efforts up to and including WWI, which Puleo uses to put the tank collapse in the context of a very complex time in U.S. history. The most striking aspect of this tale is the timeliness of the topics it touches on. Describing Americans being persecuted because of their ethnicity, a sagging economy boosted by war, and terrorism on U.S. soil that results in anti-immigration laws and deportations, Puleo could just as easily be writing about current events as about events in 1919. Overall, this is another piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is Boston's long and rich history. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker
In January, 1919, a fifty-foot tank filled with molasses exploded, sending waves of viscous goo through waterfront Boston and killing twenty-one people. Were Italian anarchists to blame or was it negligence by the tank's owner, the United States Industrial Alcohol company? Such matters form the crux of Puleo's account, which is narrated with gusto (and sometimes too much gusto: one victim has molasses "clinging to his private parts, like an army of insects that just keep coming"). Molasses was a vital commodity at the time, used in rum manufacture (the tank was full to the brim to cash in on pre-Prohibition demand), and it had been important in the production of First World War munitions. Puleo overreaches in claiming the story of the flood as a "microcosm of America"—an almost obligatory conclusion in this sort of history—but his enthusiasm for a little-known catastrophe is infectious.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Kirkus Review, July 1, 2003
Good sense of timing and an easy voice…Properly and compellingly recasts quaint folklore as a tragedy with important ramifications.

Customer Reviews

Very interesting book
A friend loaned me this book after she read it for her book club.
Dark Tide was an excellent book. I really enjoyed the connection of the tragedy to the political enviroment of the day. I also enjoyed the fact that the attorney for the plaintiffs was a graduate of Williams College, a fine Massachusetts College and my son's alma mater. The only part of the book that was unsatisfying to me was the long period of time it took the judge to write his decision, and the eternity it took for the poor victims to actually receive compensation.

A Childhood Story Comes to Life
Growing up outside of Boston, my father told me about the molasses flood many, many times. It was a story passed down to him from my grandfather, an immigrant from Greece who arrived in Boston 9 years before the tank exploded. I always wondered about this tragedy, and this book brings it into full focus. It is well written and keeps the reader interested. I highly recommend this book.

Look the Other Way for Profit -- It is History
Enjoyed reading "Dark Tide" because the author did a better than fair job of tying in the pieces so to speak, placing the incident in historical context that stretched across continents and many generations. All too often, safety and caution were thrown to the winds when it looked like profit might suffer from it. Usually, when we look at incidents like this the profit was eventually lost and many lives suffered. Can we call this old practice? No, just look at the product recall lists and try to figure in what is missed.