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Dan Kurzman

Disaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 Paperback – April 1, 2002

by Dan Kurzman (Author)

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On the morning of April 18, 1906, an earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale ripped through sleeping San Francisco. At the Palace Hotel, opera star Enrico Caruso fled, half dressed, into the street; John Barrymore searched through the chaos for a bar where he could get a whiskey; orphans screamed for parents crushed to death in their beds. Drawing on contemporary reports and eye-witness accounts, Dan Kurzman captures the fear and madness that raged through a city reduced to rubble. But in this breathtaking pastiche of real-life tragedies, the author also records acts of extraordinary courage. As many as 10,000 people died in the quake and fires that followed, yet the rugged populace refused to quit the city, vowing instead to resurrect it from the ashes. Now, the past comes alive again in this unforgettable history, a masterful account of nature at its worst...and indomitable American spirit at its best.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Perennial
Publication date

April 1, 2002
Dimensions

5.31 x 0.76 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0060084324
ISBN-13

978-0060084325
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A profound and affecting documentary of San Francisco's darkest hours." -- Booklist

"Riveting . . . Kurzman brings history alive." -- Library Journal

"[Kurzman] puts a human face on the 8.3 earthquake that rumbled through a sleeping city." -- Morning News (Dallas, TX)

Groundbreaking . . . [a] fresh look at a watershed event. -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

About the Author

Dan Kurzman, a former Washington Post correspondent, is the author of fourteen books and the winner of five literary and journalistic awards: The George Polk Memorial Award; the National Jewish Award; the Newspaper Guild's Front Page Award; and, twice, the Cornelius Ryan Award for the year's best book on foreign affairs. Kurzman is a native of San Francisco and now makes his home in New Jersey.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (April 1, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060084324
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060084325
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.76 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,117,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #449 in Earthquakes & Volcanoes (Books)
- #52,967 in Nature & Ecology (Books)
- #55,672 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
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Bruce Loveitt

Earthquake, Wind And Fire...

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2003

Verified Purchase

The format that Mr. Kurzman chose for this book works very well. The book is only about 250 pages long and is divided into 41 brief chapters. Mr. Kurzman darts back and forth, telling you about what is happening to various people that he has chosen to zero in on. For the most part, these are "just common people" but he also tells you about Enrico Caruso and John Barrymore, who happened to be in the city at the time of the earthquake and fire. Caruso and Barrymore actually provide some comic relief from the tragic events described throughout most of the book. Caruso was supposed to have gone to Naples to perform, but went to San Francisco with the Metropolitan Opera Company instead. He had heard frightening tales about the "wild west" and so he bought a gun, learned how to use it, and kept it concealed under his clothing- "just in case"! Mount Vesuvius erupted at this time and Caruso thanked his lucky stars that he had chosen to go to San Francisco instead....well, he thanked his lucky stars for awhile, anyway. Barrymore had signed on to make a theatrical tour of Australia. After he thought about it, he regretted this decision and even after the earthquake hit he spent most of his time hoping he'd miss the boat to Australia. But, again, the book mostly describes the destruction of property and the loss of lives that accompanied the earthquake and fire. The rapid cutting from chapter to chapter effectively recreates the confusion and panic that enveloped the city. Mr. Kurzman widens the scope of the book to include information about political corruption, which contributed to the devastation. For example, the chief of the fire department had been pushing for new equipment but the mayor wasn't interested in spending money on something that couldn't provide him with kickbacks. Additionally, construction contractors tried to cut corners by using substandard mortar, which increased the number of buildings that just disintegrated during the earthquake. Mr. Kurzman writes about the people who charged vastly inflated prices for food and transportation during the crisis, and he also reports on the members of the militia who looted and even murdered when they were supposed to be upholding the law. Desperate homeowners, who knew that insurance wouldn't cover damage caused by earthquakes, set fire to their own homes when they began to be fear that Mother Nature wouldn't do the job herself. One image that has remained with me is of the 3 story hotel that collapsed into a huge crack in the street. The bottom 2 stories wound up underground and many people drowned in the water pouring out of broken water mains. Only the people on the 3rd floor, now at street level, could crawl to safety. Despite advances in construction and fire prevention and containment, could anything nearly this bad ever happen again? Unfortunately, we may find out. Mr. Kurzman quotes geologists who estimate that a quake of this magnitude could be expected to occur in the SF Bay area approximately every 60-100 years. 2006 will be the 100th anniversary of the great fire and quake...

4 people found this helpful

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Mark A. Smiddy

Whole Lot A Shakin' Goin' On!

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2002

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I would have given this book 5 stars but in the end I felt the author just didn't put enough heart into the telling. Surprising because the first book I read by this author, "Fatal Voyage" was a superb telling of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis with much more body to the characters and their story, I was expecting the same with this telling of the devastation of San Francisco by quake and fire, but alas... Even so it's worth a read if you're interested in the city's history, the book serves honorably as an overview of this chapter in San Francisco's past, but if you're looking for gripping personal tales, it's just shake and bake basics.

5 people found this helpful

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History through anecdotes

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2005

I was curious to compare the events in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with the New Orleans Katrina disaster. I wasn't looking for a deeply researched history book, so this one answered my questions adequately. The author doesn't load you up with knowledge about earthquake faults and the scientific background behind plate tectonics. This is mostly a collection of anecdotes from people who lived through the earthquake, the events they experienced and observed, and some background on the political and business climate in which it all occurred.

And that was enough to demonstrate how little we humans have learned about preparing for disaster in the past hundred years. Let's see:

* The fire chief had been complaining for years that the city's water system was inadequate to cope with a major event. That was beginning to be addressed -- in fact there was a hearing about improving the water supply for fireman on the day the earthquake hit -- but the politicos felt the money could be better invested elsewhere. (Gosh, does that sound familiar?)

* Many of the responses from the political people first on the scene were accomplished in a CYA manner. The mayor, for example, was about to be indicted for corruption (and eventually he was, after the earthquake and fire), so his first actions were to secure political support.

* Poor communication stymied relief efforts. In some cases, food and clothing arrived but the distribution process wasn't in place.

* Also, the politicians tried to erase the "bad PR" after the fact, by insisting the body count was much lower than it was (the official numbers were in the hundreds, while on-the-scene reports indicated that many people were shot as looters and the real numbers were in the many-thousands).

* The events brought out the best and worst of people, from strangers who would help one another to police who turned to looting.

All of these sound very familiar, don't they?

The actual events were eerie. I've been in San Francisco often enough to recognize street names and landmarks, and I've heard some of the "society" names often enough to know to whom they were referring. If you've visited the City as a tourist a few times, I'm sure it'd give you another way to appreciate its past.

The book could have used another pass through by a good editor. There are some weird typos and unclear passages. And, as another reviewer said, this is less a history book with deep research and billions of citations than it is a set of anecdotes based on what the author could find at the time. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading it, and it did cover the info I'd been interested in learning about.

4 people found this helpful

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Disaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 Paperback – April 1, 2002

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