In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake—one that registered 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Not only was there major damage from the quake itself but broken gas lines sparked a fire that ravaged the city for days. More than 500 city blocks were destroyed and over 200,000 people were left homeless. But the city quickly managed to rebuild, rising from the ashes to become the major tourist destination it is today. Here's an exciting recount of an incredible disaster.
A colorful city -- eighth largest in the country -- reduced to rubble by a massive earthquake and then consumed by flames... In this vivid, fast-paced chronicle of what has been called the worst peacetime disaster to ever befall America, veteran journalist and author H. Paul Jeffers provides a gripping account of the nightmarish days in April 1906 when earthquake and fire devastated San Francisco. Drawing on a wide range of eyewitness material, Jeffers follows a variety of individuals as they come to terms with an unthinkable event. Celebrities like Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore; the civil and military authorities who tried to bring order out of the chaos; merchants who struggled heroically to save their shops and goods from the ruins and the flames; the suddenly homeless ordinary men and women who composed messages on scraps of paper and sticks of wood (all of which, incredibly, the postal service actually delivered) to tell of their survival: from all these and many other perspectives Jeffers creates a riveting mosaic of catastrophe and its aftermath. With the one-hundredth anniversary of the quake approaching, this skillful and engrossing narrative will be of keen interest to readers from west coast to east. Book jacket.
"In this well-researched book, Fradkin contends that it was the people of San Francisco, not the forces of nature, who were responsible for the extent of the destruction and death."--"Booklist."
The terrifying details of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake jump off the page!Ten-year-old Leo loves being a newsboy in San Francisco -- not only does he get to make some money to help his family, he's free to explore the amazing, hilly city as it changes and grows with the new century. Horse-drawn carriages share the streets with shiny new automobiles, new businesses and families move in every day from everywhere, and anything seems possible.But early one spring morning, everything changes. Leo's world is shaken -- literally -- and he finds himself stranded in the middle of San Francisco as it crumbles and burns to the ground. Does Leo have what it takes to survive this devastating disaster?The I SURVIVED series continues with another thrilling story of a boy caught in one of history's most terrifying disasters!
Investigates the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, describing the horrible natural disaster and the subsequent fire that raged through the rubble, killing ten thousand people.
A “gripping, can’t-put-it-down” chronicle, drawing on eyewitness reports and historical documents, by the New York Times–bestselling authors of Enola Gay (Los Angeles Herald Examiner). It happened at 5:13 a.m. on April 18, 1906, in San Francisco. To this day, it remains one of the worst natural disasters in American history—and this definitive book brings the full story to vivid life. Using previously unpublished documents from insurance companies, the military, and the Red Cross, as well as the stories of those who were there, The San Francisco Earthquake exposes villains and heroes; shows how the political powers tried to conceal the amount of damage caused by the earthquake; reveals how efforts to contain the fire actually spread it instead; and tells how the military executed people without trial. It also features personal stories of people who experienced it firsthand, including the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, the banker Amadeo Giannini, the writer-adventurer Jack London, the temperamental star John Barrymore, and the thousands of less famous in their struggle for survival. From the authors of The Day the Bubble Burst, The San Francisco Earthquake is an important look at how the city has handled catastrophe in the past—and how it may handle it in the future.
"1906 San Francisco comes to life in this unique collection of over 100 original stereo photographs (viewer included) of the "City-by-the-Bay". These haunting 3-D images were created before, during and after the earthquake and fire.
"At 5:12 A.M. on the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was struck by one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded, a disaster that instantly killed hundreds and leveled large sections of the city. The quake has become a watershed event in American history, yet with the passage of time its drama has overshadowed the even greater calamity to which it gave rise: the fires that broke out as the result of toppling chimneys, broken flues, and severed gas lines. These blazes burned for days and were ultimately responsible for the deaths of as many as three thousand people, the destruction of more than five hundred blocks and twenty-eight thousand buildings, and the dislocation of some two hundred thousand residents." "In San Francisco Is Burning, Dennis Smith recounts the three terrible days of the tragedy with an almost cinematic immediacy, tracing the drama through the experiences of a number of people who lived it: a valiant naval officer who helped save the city's piers and wharves, the corrupt mayor, a firefighter who witnessed firsthand the staggering intensity of the fires, a woman who ran a shelter in Chinatown, and the army general who took command of the city and inadvertently placed the city and its people at even greater risk." "Above all, San Francisco Is Burning is a compelling and timely account of how a city copes with catastrophe - how it prepares for such contingencies and how effectively it deals with them when they occur. Smith reveals how San Francisco's corrupt municipal government had paid little heed to the warnings of its fire chief about the inadequacies of the public water system, a failing that would leave the city particularly vulnerable to spreading blazes. Once the fires began, a number of decisions made by the emergency leadership not only proved ineffective hut actually exacerbated the situation. Dynamiting to create firebreaks became, in the hands of amateurs, a dangerous incendiary, while the enforced evacuation of many of the city's neighborhoods deprived them of a volunteer fire brigade, desperate to save their own homes. But the most drastic measure - the declaration of martial law and posting of militia with shoot-to-kill orders against looters - turned out to be the most damaging of all as it led to senseless deaths and the demoralizing of an already overwhelmed populace."--BOOK JACKET.
