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A review by daniellersalaz
The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 by Matthew J. Davenport
4.0
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of The Longest Minute in exchange for my review.
We’ve all heard of the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires that changed the face of San Francisco. During a visit to the city, I went on a walking tour and remember seeing melted bricks that looked like glass and being told they survived the fire. But I had no sense of the people who lived in the space between “Before” and “After.” This book gives them the chance to tell their stories.
The book starts with a brief overview of the forces that shaped San Francisco in the early days. Its gold rush origins led to a bustling city with unequal resources, insufficient infrastructure, and lax building codes.
The earthquake caught most people in bed and for some the end came quickly. However, most of the book is devoted to telling heroic stories of trying to contain the fires and the fight for survival in the week following the initial shocks.
This book is valuable because it gives modern day readers the chance to learn from those who experienced 1906 firsthand. It provides details of an unimaginable tragedy on a human scale. It also calls out the hubris, racism, and complacency that compounded the natural disaster. It makes me wonder if our society is any better prepared for such disasters over a century later.
I read an e-book version and would have given the book five stars but for the fact that I wish it had some visuals to go with the story. A map or maps, photos, etc., would have brought things into even clearer focus. Perhaps the print version will have something more. In any case, I wholeheartedly recommend reading The
Longest Minute.
We’ve all heard of the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires that changed the face of San Francisco. During a visit to the city, I went on a walking tour and remember seeing melted bricks that looked like glass and being told they survived the fire. But I had no sense of the people who lived in the space between “Before” and “After.” This book gives them the chance to tell their stories.
The book starts with a brief overview of the forces that shaped San Francisco in the early days. Its gold rush origins led to a bustling city with unequal resources, insufficient infrastructure, and lax building codes.
The earthquake caught most people in bed and for some the end came quickly. However, most of the book is devoted to telling heroic stories of trying to contain the fires and the fight for survival in the week following the initial shocks.
This book is valuable because it gives modern day readers the chance to learn from those who experienced 1906 firsthand. It provides details of an unimaginable tragedy on a human scale. It also calls out the hubris, racism, and complacency that compounded the natural disaster. It makes me wonder if our society is any better prepared for such disasters over a century later.
I read an e-book version and would have given the book five stars but for the fact that I wish it had some visuals to go with the story. A map or maps, photos, etc., would have brought things into even clearer focus. Perhaps the print version will have something more. In any case, I wholeheartedly recommend reading The
Longest Minute.