What the great flood of Texas tells us
Guest post by an activist whose debut novel explores how climate change actually feels
Hi folks, Rashmee here. Still on holiday but couldn’t resist the chance to put out a very special guest post by author and climate activist Denise S Robbins in the wake of the catastrophic flood that killed more than 100 people in Texas over the US Independence Day weekend. Denise is from Wisconsin in the American Midwest, where she returned after sixteen years of climate activism on the East Coast. Her debut novel, The Unmapping, was published last month.
As always, This Week, Those Books links the big international story to the world of books. Our aim is to provide crucial context — from fiction and non-fiction — to the shouty, doomscroll news cycle. We’ve been going two years and have built up a following in 121 countries. It’s a small operation here at TWTB and we’re sustained by reader support. If you find This Week, Those Books useful, thoughtful, and…a conversation starter, please read, respond, refer a friend.
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Housekeeping note: We’re still on our travels in July (hopefully no more floods!) and will be back properly in August.
The Big Story:
For three days from July 4, a tropical storm brought a deadly deluge to a region of central Texas known as Hill Country, which is considered one of the deadliest places in the US¹ for flash flooding.
Fuelled by remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, torrential rainfall surged the river by 25 to 30 feet in under an hour. At times, the water rose one inch every 25 seconds. At the time of writing, some 170 people are missing and questions are being asked about the state government’s response to the catastrophe.
These books offer context:
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