Richard Linthicum

It is obvious that this book was rushed into print not long after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Although several contributors are mentioned on the title page, key details have been omitted, including the name of the primary author(s), the name and location of the publisher, etc.

The title goes on and on, giving a fairly good preview of the bombastic writing style employed throughout the book. The material on the San Francisco quake concludes with a chapter outlining a wildly inaccurate explanation of seismology, followed by several pages of racist rant against the Chinese population, and a vision of the new city that will rise from the ashes.

By page 266 the authors run out of things to say about the San Francisco quake. Like many disaster books of the era, the material continues for another another 162 pages, with topics including Mount Vesuvius, more bizarre speculation on the causes of volcanoes and earthquakes, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, destruction of Pompeii (Vesuvius again), Mount Aetna, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Japanese earthquakes and volcanoes, Krakatoa, Hawaiian and Alaska volcanoes, earthquakes in South America, the 1903 Galveston hurricane, and volcanic eruption in Martinique. It appears that Trumbull White may have been working on a term paper or thesis for his geology class, and saw a opportunity to cash in on his research.

With all of its flaws, this book provides a interesting look at impressions of the earthquake immediately after the event.… (meer)