Dark Tide, the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919

by Stephen Puleo

The first account of the Boston molasses flood, when a 2.3 million gallon tank collapsed, sending a 15 foot high wave of molasses in all directions. The molasses, traveling at up to 35 miles per hour, destroyed a large section of the North End, killing 21 and injuring 150. 

The cause of the disaster was corporate neglect and incompetence, rushing construction to take advantage of the increasing demand for industrial alcohol (a byproduct of molasses) resulting from the war.  In its defense, the company tried to blame anarchists, largely Italian, who were becoming increasingly violent in opposition to war, capitalism, and government crackdowns on individual freedoms.  (One result of the activities of radicals and unionists was Mitchel Palmer and John Hoover's assault on civil liberties).

Puleo also gives a history of molasses as a commodity, which was a critical part of the slave trade, the "middle passage" being the voyage between Africa and the West Indies, after which human beings were traded for molasses which was shipped to New England to be traded for rum which was shipped to Africa to be traded for...

The writing is somewhat stiff, but the book is an interesting and well documented recounting of a forgotten incident in one of the critical years in American history.