Dark Tide

"this is a history book<br/>it is a good read...I sometimes find history books to dry but the author helps make this more readable for me with stories with connections to characters in the book<br/>it helps that it is local as well<br/>I am going on a tour with the author (and others!) this sunday in the north end"

"I found the subject matter interesting as this is something I'd never heard of before a friend mentioned reading this book. However, I found the author's style problematic. I'd just finished reading Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, so it was impossible for me to not compare the two. Triangle was by far a superior book, in my opinion. <br/> <br/>First and foremost, the thing that bothered me most is that in Dark Tide, the author includes a lot of detail that he couldn't possibly have gotten from any sources. There was far too much fictionalizing for a non-fiction book. Yes, it made it read more like a novel, but the result for me was to make the author far less trustworthy--it made me wonder what other details he may have been imagining rather than presenting. In his afterword, the author gives a comprehensive list of all his sources--it's clear he did really do his research. However, he also states that he was comfortable extrapolating emotions and motivations for people in the story. Whether or not he got it right, in my opinion, it had little place in a nonfiction book. I have read several really excellent nonfiction books that stuck to the facts and were still really, really good reads (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks comes to mind). To include fictional details just to make something read better made my trust-factor drop significantly. <br/><br/>Second, Triangle made some excellent arguments for the role that the fire and the resulting trial had in several arenas, such as labor rights, women's rights, and the changing nature of political parties. Dark Tide didn't show me too much beyond a single tragedy. I didn't get much of a sense of how the resulting trial made significant changes to industry, politics, or safety laws. The author did give passing reference to a few things at the very end of the book, but by keeping them as "passing references" it lessened the impact of the information. <br/><br/>Perhaps had I not just read Triangle, I'd have had a different experience with Dark Tide. But Triangle set a certain standard for me that Dark Tide just couldn't meet.<br/><br/>It is still an interesting subject, and the book did read easily, so I'm glad I read it. I just wouldn't choose to read anything else by this author."