Overview
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 thirty 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.
Full Product Details
Author: Jerry Borrowman ,
Grover Gardner
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Imprint: Shadow Mountain
Edition: Library Edition
ISBN: 9781094165134
ISBN 10: 1094165131
Publication Date: 21 July 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
"""Offers new stories that will interest even the most avid history buff."" -- ""School Library Journal on Invisible Heroes of World War II"" ""Unusual and compelling."" -- ""Booklist on Invisible Heroes of World War II"""
Unusual and compelling. -- Booklist on Invisible Heroes of World War II Offers new stories that will interest even the most avid history buff. -- School Library Journal on Invisible Heroes of World War II
Author Information
"Jerry Borrowman is an award-winning author of historical fiction and nonfiction. He has written about World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and about how four feet of plywood saved the Grand Canyon. He is the recipient of the George Washington National Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Jerry and his wife, Marcella, raised four children and live in the Rocky Mountains. Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the ""Best Voices of the Century"" and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards."
