The Desert Cries: A Season of Flash Floods in a Dry Land

by Craig Childs

Other authorsRegan Choi (Illustrator)

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

551.48909791

Genres

Science & Nature

General Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Collection

Untitled collection

Publication

Arizona Highways Books (2002), Paperback, 140 pages

Description

Flash floods spread violence and anger over the land. And yet, they sometimes bring peace and grace.If you have never seen a flash flood, you will in this book. Meet the survivors whose stories explain such a paradox.The Desert Cries tells gripping stories of five flash floods that raged in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere in Arizona within a two-month span and killed 22 people.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Ammonite

I closed the covers after reading this for the first time less than 10 minutes ago. It's not a dry scientific analysis of how and why floods occur in the dry southwest US, although the primary reason for this is made clear at the outset: this is a landscape created by flowing water, through which

water continues to flow. Rather it's an attempt by the author to come to terms with the depth of his relationship with the floods, to momentarily catch and record the grandeur, the beauty and the horror of the landscape and the force of water that creates it. And to remind us - and perhaps himself - that there is nothing we can do to prevent unfortunate or ill-prepared people from drowning in this dry land.

4 1/2 rather than 5 stars because I found many of Regan Choi's illustrations interrupted rather than enhanced the read, and because Childs' writing at times stumbles awkwardly as he searches for the right word or phrase.

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