Aftershocks [Hardcover]

Richard S. Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

On April 18, 1906, the great Golden Gate metropolis of San Francisco was struck by a devastating earthquake that, combined with resulting fires, leveled one of the most cultured, exciting--and, some say, wicked--cities in the United States.

In Aftershocks, Richard S. Wheeler plunges the reader into the midst of the earthquake in which thousands died, and tens of thousands were left homeless and destitute. Acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, depravity, and horror took place in equal numbers against a backdrop of such monumental destruction that many thought it Armageddon.

Wheeler's story of the great calamity is built around its victims, the people of San Francisco: an architect more concerned with what the destruction spells for his career that what it means to his family; a photographer who captures the history of the moment in the faces of the stricken rather than in the rubble of the buildings; a city engineer whose involvement in the corruption of the city's municipal government takes an awful toll; a missionary who has enough faith in God's love to aid the refugees but who cannot find a place for the love of a fellow human being; a soldier obsessed with getting rich from the helpless, despairing people he is supposed to help.

In Aftershocks, Wheeler introduces such historic earthquake-era figures as Enrico Caruso, John Barrymore, Jack London, and General Frederick Funston as he reconstructs San Francisco in its glittering heyday: its great hotels, its temples of finance, its literary and artistic centers--as well as its notorious Barbara Coast and Chinatown, its rat-infested sewers and graft-infested city hall. In his recent novel Second Lives, Richard S. Wheeler memorably re-created Gilded Age Denver; in Aftershocks, that Bohemia-by-the-Bay, San Francisco, comes to vivid life in its most despairing time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With his usual skillful storytelling, Wheeler resurrects the powerful plot formula and expert characterization shown in Second Lives (1997) by transporting the reader to the aftermath of the massive 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. A vast historical drama unfolds in the resulting catastrophe, which Wheeler dramatizes through the fates of six people caught in the devastation that will test their capacity for charity and their ability to survive. Ambitious architect Harrison White sees the cataclysm as a great opportunity, selfishly placing his career above his family's safety. Arthritic photographer Katherine Steinmetz helplessly watches her lover die and then must face her future alone and crippled. Carl Lubbich is a corrupt city engineer whose guilt is overwhelming and justifies a horrible final payment. Ginger Severance is an idealistic young missionary whose efforts to help the refugees are often thwarted, and Sergeant Major Jack Deal, a soldier with a ruthless heart, can't pass up the chance to pillage and loot. Courage and cowardice, kindness and selfishness all surface during the crisis. As he nimbly skirts melodrama, Wheeler vividly depicts his characters struggling with themselves and with extraordinary circumstances.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Following up on his long series of popular Westerns, Wheeler (Buffalo Commons, 1998; Flints Truth, 1998; etc.) jumps ahead a few years to the San Francisco earthquake. The cataclysm that leveled the city on April 18, 1906, was one of the greatest disasters of modern times, and Wheeler portrays its impact upon the high, the mighty, the desperate, and the scoundrels: people like Ginger Severance, the missionary with a heart of stone; Carl Lubbich, the corrupt city engineer who learns too late the price of his own venality; Harrison White, an ambitious architect who sees the making of his career in the ruins of a city; and the bohemian Katharine Steinmetz, whose idle photographs become keys to the citys rebirth. Real-life figures such as Caruso and Jack London also make their appearance, although the true star of this history is the city itself, as it struggles to survive the wrath of Nature and God. Formulaic in the extreme, but the local color and historical detail move the story briskly on its way. Wheeler writes to entertain, and he succeeds admirably in his task. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312865279
• ISBN-13: 978-0312865276
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,210,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Wheeler began a late-in-life career as a novelist at age fifty, and by his seventy-fifth year had written seventy novels. He began life as a newsman and later became a book editor, but turned to fiction full time in 1985.

He started by writing traditional westerns but soon was writing large-scale historical novels and then biographical novels. In recent years he has been writing mysteries as well, some as Axel Brand. His Lieutenant Joe Sonntag series occurs in 1940s Milwaukee, and focuses on life in a big, smoky industrial city just after World War Two.

He has won numerous awards, including the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the literature of the American West, and also six Spur Awards from Western Writers of America. He has received more Spur Awards than any other living author.

He grew up in Wisconsin and migrated West, holding newspaper jobs in Phoenix, Oakland, Carson City, and Billings. His wife, Sue Hart, is an English professor at Montana State University in Billings.

He has been focusing more and more on biographical novels. One of these, published in March, 2010, is called Snowbound, and is about the explorer John C. Fremont's tragic fourth expedition. It won a Spur Award.


For a quarter of a century he's largely made his living from writing fiction. That reality astonishes him. In his mid-seventies now, he is still dreaming up new stories.

Note: There are other Richard Wheelers writing books. One is an historian of the Civil War, and another writes histories of the Marine Corps, and another is a social scientist. Richard S. Wheeler is the novelist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comparable to Jack London's work., March 8, 1999

By 

Noah Ward ([e-mail]) (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aftershocks (Hardcover)

Richard Wheeler's novels are the richest and most humanistic to be found among today's writers of the American West. Aftershocks, a story set in the tumult of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, is reminiscent of Jack London's character-rich tales, such as The Valley of the Moon and Burning Daylight.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Formulaic and trite, September 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Aftershocks (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed the historical aspects of this book, but I couldn't help but find the characters and situations a bit trite. None of the characters seemed to really come to life and the storyline is a bit predictable.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars History for the after school special crowd, October 4, 2008

By 

M. A. Hawk - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aftershocks (Hardcover)

Known for his character driven historical fiction, Wheeler steps a wee bit over the line of banality in this one. Set during the great fire and earthquake (yes, many locals order it that way) of San Francisco in April 1906, he would have done a lot better with a non fiction novel in the vein of Dan Kurzman's vastly superior "Disaster!"

Wheeler's writing style can veer from either extreme at times, but the real problem with the novel is how he seems to be checking stock characters off of an tv movie cast list. Yes, persons of all backgrounds were affected, but seriously. There is the cuckolded wife with workaholic spouse (who is later shanghied), cute kids that wander into direct disaster, bitter guy in a wheelchair, sick woman optimistic above all else, domestic worker redeemed thru love, etc. etc. I also found the portrayal of Asian Americans to be rather stereotypical. Character development is one thing, but you don't need to milk it and having one character's loose ends resolved by the sudden appearance of another gets really tiring really fast.

With the time he probably spent on research the author could've come up with a much better book. Skip this and read Disaster! instead.