I got, for Christmas, "Rising Tide" by John Barry. This is the story of the great Mississippi River flood of 1927. It covers a huge swath of engineering, politics, race, and history.
This is the flood that inspired Randy Newmans's song "Louisiana"...
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"Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne"
Featured in the book is the US Army Corps of Engineers, the same folks who protected New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina.
John