Customer Reviews

The New Madrid Earthquakes, Revised Edition

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I found this book to be quite interesting and easy to read. It gives a detailed eye-witness account to the destruction caused by the series of earthquakes in the early 1800's. If you are looking for a technical book about the Rift Zone, this book is not for you because it does not go into much detail about the fault itself. However, it does tell of the relation of the current geology and how it was effected by the earthquakes. Generally, I found this book very enjoyable and I suggest it for anyone who is interested in the learning more about the potential hazards that lie below the Mississippi Valley.

I was caught by the title of this book. I have a personal interest in the events of 1911-1912.
My great-grandparents lived in Missouri and they told such a wild story that it ended up in our family's history. My grandmother told the story to me. At first I thought that everyone was fibbing. The story told about the Mississippi River running backwards, the huge sand blows and the continual shaking. My great-grandmother was a Crow Indian and she told our family what the Crow People remembered. The earthquakes seemed to the settlers to be never ending. It was terrifying.
This book gives the reader a feeling of the awful immensity of our planet and all is not what it seems. The story of the earthquakes in the heartland of the American Continent started my lifelong interest in geology. There is a lot of good and fascinating facts. Hopefully the information in the book will wake up people to the dangers of the New Madrid fault between Memphis and St. Louis.