No One Had a Tongue To Speak

No One Had a Tongue to Speak by Utpal Sandesara and Tom Wooten. I stopped in a used bookstore, McKay, on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee and quickly found a handful of books including this one. Never heard of it or the authors before. But what a find.

No One Had a Tongue to Speak is by two recent Harvard grads and recounts the antecedents, disaster, and epilogue of a man-made disaster that occurred in India in 1979 when a dam collapsed and nearly wiped out a whole city. In some regards this book can be seen as a parallel to David McCullough’s excellent The Johnstown Flood. Sandesara and Wooten did the research for the book while in college and completed it soon afterwards.

Hard to believe that it is by two literary novices. Well constructed, strong pacing. Similar to works by Walter Lord, Erik Larson, and David McCullough.

In addition to being a first rate book about a disaster, it also provides a brief introduction to the Indian caste system, religious beliefs, recent history and a touch of politics. A very moving account of good people struggling against terrible events. Highly recommended.

I have been on the lookout for books that recount historical events from the perspective of other countries and this comes close. For example, where are the Egyptian accounts of the Sinai War or the Cameroonian accounts of the Lake Nyos disaster?