Social/Historical study of the Austin Dam Disaster of 1911 through the extensive use of news accounts and photographs. In addition, the social dynamics, ethical issues, and variant explainations surrounding the disaster are explored.

At 2:30 on an unseasonably cool, partly cloudy afternoon in late September 1911, the cement dam located a mile above the mill town of Austin, Pennsylvania, gave way, unleashing a wall of water cascading down the narrow valley toward the town and sweeping away everything in its path with the explosive power of a nuclear bomb. Lulled by the assurance of engineering experts that the dam would forever withstand the pressure of the pent-up waters above the town, three thousand unsuspecting residents of Austin went about their slow-paced Saturday routines. Some floundered and drowned in the raging waters that consumed the town, some were battered to death by logs and debris swept up by the torrent, and some, the lucky ones, raced to the safety of higher ground. Stories of heroism, sacrifice, cowardice, and selfishness emerged from the aftermath. The residents of Austin represented; after all, simply a crosscut sample of humanity, exposing the best and worst in times of crisis. Washed Away is a work of fiction that unfolds in the historical context of this real-life tragedy. Committed to go beyond the sensational journalism of that era, two enterprising young reporters from Buffalo, Rusty Shephard and Katie Keenan, join forces to investigate the causes and determine accountability for the disaster. As their investigation begins to unmask the deceit and greed of those responsible, they encounter desperate acts of coverup, recrimination, suicide, and murder, placing their own lives in mortal danger. In their journey to uncover the truth and seek justice, they are absorbed in the emotional turmoil of the town and of their own relationship.

Norbert Delatte presents the circumstances of important failures that have had far-reaching impacts on civil engineering practice, organized around topics in the engineering curriculum.

Minutes before midnight on the evening of March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed. The dam's 200-foot concrete wall crumpled, sending billions of gallons of raging flood waters down San Francisquito Canyon, sweeping 54 miles down the Santa Clara River to the sea, and claiming over 450 lives in the disaster. Captured here in over 200 images is a photographic record of the devastation caused by the flood, and the heroic efforts of residents and rescue workers. Built by the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Water Works and Supply, the failure of the St. Francis Dam on its first filling was the greatest American civil engineering failure of the 20th century. Beginning at dawn on the morning after the disaster, stunned local residents picked up their cameras to record the path of destruction, and professional photographers moved in to take images of the washed-out bridges, destroyed homes and buildings, Red Cross workers giving aid, and the massive clean-up that followed. The event was one of the worst disasters in California's history, second only to the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.

Describes the 1911 fire that destroyed the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village, the deaths of 146 workers in the fire, and the implications of the catastrophe for twentieth-century politics and labor relations.