As I live in California in Ventura County, I was very eager to read this book about the history and collapse of the St. Francis Dam, and I wasn't disappointed. I had seen mention in local papers of this disaster but knew very little about it. Due to the drought we have been experiencing for the last couple of years, I enjoyed learning about Los Angeles and it's water history and William Mulholland's role in getting water to Los Angeles and the building of the dam. Wilkman is one of those writer's who brings history to life. His research into the St. Francis Dam is meticulous and he relates the facts. He does not assign blame but let's you draw your own conclusions. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Southern California history and it's need for water. ( )

3.5 stars

In 1928 a fairly newly built dam near (and meant to serve) Los Angeles burst. The ensuing flood killed possibly around 500 people. This book looks at the building of the dam, the disaster itself, and the aftermath – the trial and the groups put together to try to figure out what went wrong. A long-time, popular man at the head of LA’s waterworks for decades was mostly fingered as being responsible, as he was the one mainly responsible for the building of the dam.

It was good. It was pretty slow to start, as the building of the dam wasn’t all that interesting to me. But it got better (that is, more interesting) once the flood actually happened. Even the follow-up in trying to figure out what happened kept my interest more than the initial building of it. ( )

A few years ago, when I read Les Standiford's "Water to the Angels," my main regret was that there seemed to be relatively little coverage about the actual St. Francis disaster and the reasons why it occurred. Wilkman is as interested in the water war that shaped the construction of the St. Francis Dam, but he uses it as a lens to understand the forces that drove William Mulholland to construct the dam as something of a "shock" project, when a more measured approach would have at least allowed for a better designed structure or, in a best case scenario, a closer analysis of why the site simply wasn't appropriate for a dam in the first place. ( )