Wade in the Water - Hardcover

Born in Dallas, Texas, and moved to California in 1973, Oates graduated from the California State University in Fullerton in 1992 with a Masters degree in Business Administration and a Minor in Music. Over the past sixteen years, he has grown his southwestern style restaurant into a thriving fixture in his home town of Fullerton, and has been recognized for his achievements in the industry by California State Senator Mimi Walters and U.S. Congressman Ed Royce.

The 'Johnstown Flood' of 1889 survives as a dimly recalled phrase, but memory of the actual scope of the catastrophe has faded with time. In 'Wade in the Water', Michael Oates brings the drama and tragedy of the flood back with immediate, wrenching impact. Told through the eyes of memorable characters whose personal struggles are instantly erased by the immensity of the disaster, Oates conveys the terror of that horrible moment with meticulous historical accuracy. -- John M. Adams Historian, Author of The Millionaire and the Mummies

Michael Oates revisits a tragic moment in American history with his novel 'Wade In The Water', a touching coming of age tale plunging the reader into the swirling waters of a devastating flood that destroyed the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889 and took the lives over 2,000 men, women, and children. Oates brings its memory back with a gripping story that hooks you from the very start and flows on with identifiable characters and expressive narration, almost lyrical at times, exploring the choices people make as they survive or succumb to tragedy. Through vivid descriptions and well-developed characters with uniquely connected lives, Oates weaves for us a masterful story filled with harmony and conflict that twists and turns just as unpredictably as the raging floodwater intent on destroying it all. -- Debra Holland: New York Times best selling author of The Montana Sky Series

Remindful of John Dos Passos's 'USA' trilogy, E.L. Doctorow's 'Ragtime', or Roman Polanski's film 'Chinatown', 'Wade in the Water' brings this event to life with a kaleidoscope of characters, both historic and fictional. From industrialists Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick to Red Cross founder Clara Barton to black piano prodigy Blind Tom Wiggins to deeply compassionate portraits of ordinary steel workers, miners, cooks, and skilled craftsmen living in the shadow of impending catastrophe, Oates masterfully recreates the stark tragedy and deep injustice of this almost forgotten event. Filled with powerful prose and driven by the drum beat of impending disaster as the rain falls and the waters rise, Wade in the Water is a compelling and important novel, full of human tragedy and triumph. -- Michael Steiner, Professor of American Studies California State University, Fullerton Author, most recently, of

An absorbing work of historical fiction that reminds one of (Doctorow's) 'Ragtime'. -- Vince Buck, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, California State University