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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which three rivers continued to rise as their levees fail?

2. Where did Thompson go to present his argument to save New Orleans from flooding?

3. Why did most levees fail?

4. What happened within 10 days of the change in the crevasse at Mounds Landing?

5. Why did President Coolidge hire Herbert Hoover?

Short Essay Questions

1. Both Ellet and Humphreys are in competition to survey the Mississippi River. Ellet's report came out first and Humphreys takes Ellet's report as a personal insult. Why would Humphreys be insulted by Ellet's report?

2. The author wrote that during the 1800's "the prevailing attitude is that the Mississippi River can be controlled if the laws of nature governing the river were understood." What could John M. Barry mean by this?

3. After the Mounds Landing Crevasse widens and thousands of acres are underwater, many other levees begin to fail. The white people left the area, while the black people stayed behind to work. What does this tell the reader about the Delta region?

4. Why does Thompson feel he is doing a good thing by withholding news from the public?

5. Thompson has the idea of dynamiting the levees to the south of New Orleans, but who gets the idea primarily accepted by everyone?

6. How involved in the flooding is Coolidge when he is the President of the United States?

7. What would be the purpose of one town sabotaging the levee in another town?

8. When Humphreys does publish his report, it receives great acclaim in Europe, but because of the Civil War it doesn't receive a lot of recognition in the United States. Why would the Civil War limit the recognition of Humphreys' report?

9. Why does the destruction of the St. Bernard and Plaquemines levee prove to be unnecessary?

10. World War I has begun and the Delta area is flourishing, yet lacking in manpower. Percy is a big influence for the fine development of the area, yet the more successful the area's development becomes, the more Percy's popularity decreases. Why do you think this happens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the title of the book. How did the Great Flood of 1927 change America? What has the flood caused people in the area to change? Has the area changed at all? Does the area still need improvements?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast how the whites were treated versus how the blacks of the area were treated. Were they treated the same? Differently? Were the behaviors consistent?

Essay Topic 3

Personification is giving a nonliving object characteristics of something that is alive. How is personification used to describe the river? Why would it be used this way? What was the reasoning behind the flooding when using personification?

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