What a fascinating story! As a Bostonian, I always knew there had once been a "big molasses flood" in the North End, but it's generally talked about as a whimsical piece of Boston trivia. Any reference to it rarely goes beyond the fact that it happened, and usually the reference ends with something like, "...and on hot summer days in the North End, you can still detect the faint smell of molasses."
This book tells the whole story with the respect and gravity it deserves. People suffered and died, big business failed, but justice prevailed. Puleo gives names and faces to the victims, and he fully illustrates the human toll of this tragedy.
Moreover, Puleo places the event within the greater context of history and society. Not only did I learn about the central role of molasses in slave trade, the American Revolution, and World War I, but I also learned about an anarchist movement that terrorized the nation around the time of World War I. (Even though Boston was the home of a number of radical anarchists, I never even knew such a movement existed.)
The book is well-written, very easy to read, and held my interest throughout. My only complaint - apparently a pet peeve of mine - is that the author uses italics excessively and unnecessarily.
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