Elizabeth also mentioned the sudden rise in demand for John Barry’s Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America, for which Simon & Schuster just ordered an additional 10,000 copies. Their spokesman said they began to see demand for the book as early as August 31st; they must have checked Amazon after I did, because when I looked that day, it was still back around #8,000. These days, of course, it’s hovering around #15–and I’m betting it cracks the top ten tonight starting at 8:00 P.M. Eastern, when C-SPAN airs a live, one-hour special in which Barry recounts the history of the flood and takes phone calls from viewers.