In the aftermath of the most costly engineering disaster in U.S. history, Words Whispered in Water tells the story of one woman’s fight––against all odds––to expose a mammoth federal agency, and win.
Citizen investigator Sandy Rosenthal shares her personal tale about how she found the culprit in the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
It’s a horror story, a who-dunnit and a David & Goliath story all in one. Rosenthal weaves her way through deception and lies to expose the unquestionable truth, and takes the reader along for the ride.
Unraveling a multi-million dollar cover up that media and an elite engineering trade group took part in, Rosenthal faced one of the most powerful agencies in the Federal government––the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers––and won.
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for eight straight months.
In 2005, the world watched as a major American city––New Orleans––was nearly wiped off the map. Newscasters called it a ‘natural catastrophe.’ But one New Orleanian had her doubts.
When steel flood-walls built with inherent engineering flaws broke in New Orleans, the responsible party, the Army Corps of Engineers, went into full-time damage control mode. The federal agency––with cooperation from Big Media and the Engineering Establishment––spent millions bamboozling the American public. The Army Corps blamed the resulting flood devastation and resulting death on Mother Nature and the low moral character of the city’s residents.
But in the chaotic aftermath, Sandy Rosenthal uncovered evidence that the Army Corps had made egregious design mistakes in their steel flood-walls fifteen years before they buckled and failed, causing over 1,500 deaths. With no special training, she exposed the scandal and eventually changed the narrative from “natural disaster” to “federal flood-wall failure.” How this miracle of public truth-telling was accomplished is the subject of Words Whispered in Water.
“Sandy Rosenthal is a courageous
and indefatigable warrior for justice.”
Dave Eggers, author of The Circle (also a motion picture starring Tom Hanks)
Everyone relies on the Army Corps of Engineers whether they know it or not. Sixty-two percent of the American population lives in counties by levees. There are Army Corps-built structures in every state of the nation. In fact, many of them are ongoing disasters including the Sacramento Central Valley region of California, the sugar-fertilizer soaked South Florida Everglades and sacred tribal lands and lakes in North Dakota.
Words Whispered in Water highlights the importance of exposing the bad behavior of giant corporations and bureaucracies whose unsavory activities affect millions of people. Rosenthal’s vigilance regarding the Army Corps has the potential to produce a similar pay-off that could save hundreds of thousands of lives in the future. Rosenthal’s story is crucial reading for potential citizen activists wanting to make a difference. Additionally, Words Whispered in Water provides lessons for politicians and bureaucrats from City Hall, to Congress, to the almost faceless Army Corps. In this era of lies and deception at every level in public life, the author shows how to use persuasiveness, persistence and free tools like the Freedom of Information Act, videos and social media to prevail.
Finally, Words Whispered in Water offers a valuable warning as to what is likely to happen in this time of eroding coastlines, coupled with America’s history of trying to control––instead of coexist––with water.