Waterworks Book Group – October 2019

The Waterworks Book Group invites you to join in discussion of Stephen Puleo’s book Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. The book details one of the most bizarre events in Boston history: the rupturing of a giant molasses tank which killed 21 people. This year marks 100 years since the tragic event occurred, so now is a great time to learn the full story and share your thoughts at our book group.  Whether you’ve read the book cover-to-cover or haven’t picked it up yet, all you need to bring is your curiosity – and maybe your coffee!

The Waterworks Book Group will meet Wednesday, October 2nd at 10:00 AM in our museum’s Overlook Gallery. There is no admission fee. The Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month, and meetings are led by Waterworks volunteer and retired librarian Mary Ann Tricarico.

About the Book:

Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston’s waterfront, disgorging its contents in a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that traveled at 35 miles per hour. The Great Boston Molasses Flood claimed the lives of 21 people and caused widespread destruction. For the first time, the story of the flood is told here in its full historical context, from the tank’s construction in 1915 through the multiyear lawsuit that followed the disaster. Dark Tide uses the gripping drama of the flood to examine the sweeping changes brought about by World War I, Prohibition, the anarchist movement, immigration, and the expanding role of big business in society. It’s also a chronicle of the courage of ordinary people, from the firemen caught in an unimaginable catastrophe to the soldier-lawyer who presided over the lawsuit with heroic impartiality.