Primeros reseñadoresPaul Brennan

The worst maritime accident in American history killed 1,600 steamship passengers, many starving just released Union prisoners returning north after the Civil War. Explosion of faulty boilers onboard the Sultana early morning on April 27, 1865 sent hundreds of men and women into the frigid Mississippi River near Memphis.

Inspired by actual events, The Sultana Odyssey chronicles the tragedy of 2,300 travelers packed on a steamship built for 400 and the perseverance to survive against nearly impossible probabilities. It follows the journey of young Chicago doctor Finley Horne through the south and his efforts to return his sister from Alabama. Mistakenly tossed into a confederate prison camp, he experiences the atrocities and savagery of southern captivity before escaping and accompanying U.S. Colored Troops transporting their wounded by pushing an abandoned rail boxcar.

The graphic and raw narrative captures the country's mood, greed, passion, values, and conditions: all against an historic backdrop of war and prejudice. Included are realities of an indelible blemish on American history: rampant death, starvation, abuses, and exposure to deadly diseases responsible for most Civil War fatalities.

The doctor's journey concludes aboard the Sultana when explosion catapults sleeping passengers hundreds of yards into the Mississippi River and toward watery graves. Actual reminiscences of survivors reveal graphic and catastrophic efforts treading dark murky water toward a distant shoreline - all shadowed by a raging inferno consuming the steamboat's wood construction and burning alive helpless emaciated prisoners and amputees.

Because it occurred days following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the tragic story of the Sultana remains to this day a little-known footnote of The War Between the States.

Everyone should read BLOWBACK. And for a very practical yet critical reason: each one of us comes within close proximity of some type of pressure equipment every day, if not several times a day. But most people rarely give thought to pressure devices. Without these mechanisms, however, civilization as we know it today would not exist. That’s because pressure equipment is essential to the productivity, comfort, and wellbeing of every man, woman, and child. Pressure-retaining devices are harmless when properly maintained and operated. The problem is the general public’s lacking of understanding of what can happen if these mechanical mainstays are ignored, abused, or without constant monitoring. For example: rupture of a typical 30-gallon water heater instantly generates enough force to send a 2,500-pound car to a height equivalent to a 14-story building with a liftoff velocity of 85 miles per hour (enough energy to launch it from the basement through the roof of a three-story house). BLOWBACK is not a textbook. It is a fascinating collection of short stories and essays intended to build awareness of pressure equipment safety: from the hot water tank in your basement, to colossal electricity producing steam generators, to beer kegs, to the seemingly innocuous inhaler in your pocket or purse. Replete with lavish illustrations and rare photos, BLOWBACK engages the reader with little known anecdotes as well as insight into some of North America’s most calamitous events. Those with extensive mechanical backgrounds and those without will equally find BLOWBACK to be an eye-opening two-millennium journey that is both entertaining and educational: from the discovery of steam locomotion to today’s headlines of pressure equipment devastation. Let the reader beware: what you don’t know can kill you. And when it comes to safety, there are no second chances!