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The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
Matthew J. Davenport’s The Longest Minute is the spellbinding true story of the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco, and how a great earthquake sparked a devastating and preventable firestorm.
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately one minute, shockwaves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death and trapped many alive. Fires ignited and blazed through dry wooden ruins and grew into a firestorm. For the next three days, flames devoured collapsed ruins, killed trapped survivors, and nearly destroyed what was then the largest city in the American West.
Meticulously researched and gracefully written, The Longest Minute is both a harrowing chronicle of devastation and the portrait of a city’s resilience in the burning aftermath of greed and folly. Drawing on the letters and diaries and unpublished memoirs of survivors and previously unearthed archival records, Matthew Davenport combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately one minute, shockwaves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death and trapped many alive. Fires ignited and blazed through dry wooden ruins and grew into a firestorm. For the next three days, flames devoured collapsed ruins, killed trapped survivors, and nearly destroyed what was then the largest city in the American West.
Meticulously researched and gracefully written, The Longest Minute is both a harrowing chronicle of devastation and the portrait of a city’s resilience in the burning aftermath of greed and folly. Drawing on the letters and diaries and unpublished memoirs of survivors and previously unearthed archival records, Matthew Davenport combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.
433 pages, Hardcover
Published October 17, 2023
About the author
Matthew J. Davenport
5 books47 followersMatthew Davenport's first book, First Over There, a finalist for the 2015 Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History, was acclaimed as “a brilliant work for every library” by Library Journal and was heralded by Pulitzer-Prize winning historian James McPherson as "military history at its best." His forthcoming book, The Longest Minute, the gripping, true story of the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco, is scheduled for release from St. Martin's Press in Fall 2023.
Matthew Davenport has been a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal Book Review and salon.com and is a member of the Authors Guild. A native of Missouri and a former prosecutor, he practices law in North Carolina where he lives with his wife and two sons.
Matthew Davenport has been a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal Book Review and salon.com and is a member of the Authors Guild. A native of Missouri and a former prosecutor, he practices law in North Carolina where he lives with his wife and two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
September 11, 2023
San Francisco is synonymous with liberal politics, high real estate prices, and, of course, earthquakes. While many will still talk about the inevitable "Big One" in the future, many know very little about the one which already happened in 1906. Matthew Davenport's, "The Longest Minute," seeks to remedy that while fixing some misconceptions along the way. He is successful on all counts.
The old adage, "it's not the fall but the sudden stop that gets you," can be repurposed for the earthquake of 1906. It would sound something like, "it wasn't so much the earthquake, but the citywide fire which really messed up San Fran." Davenport's own book follows this narrative as the earthquake itself takes up only a couple early chapters and the majority of the book follows the fire which went everywhere. Davenport adeptly covers massive ground both literally and figuratively as he jumps around the city showing the devastation and loss. Most importantly, he highlights the heroism on display from all walks of life as San Franciscans battle to save their city. Oh, and graft. There was lots of graft.
This is a great disaster book which deftly handles all the elements which make a great story of survival. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a full accounting of the 1906 quake.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.)
The old adage, "it's not the fall but the sudden stop that gets you," can be repurposed for the earthquake of 1906. It would sound something like, "it wasn't so much the earthquake, but the citywide fire which really messed up San Fran." Davenport's own book follows this narrative as the earthquake itself takes up only a couple early chapters and the majority of the book follows the fire which went everywhere. Davenport adeptly covers massive ground both literally and figuratively as he jumps around the city showing the devastation and loss. Most importantly, he highlights the heroism on display from all walks of life as San Franciscans battle to save their city. Oh, and graft. There was lots of graft.
This is a great disaster book which deftly handles all the elements which make a great story of survival. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a full accounting of the 1906 quake.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.)
August 25, 2023
Matthew Davenport has written a definitive account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the subsequent fire that destroyed much of the city. Using numerous primary sources, he traces the timeline from the start of the quake, the fire, and what came after. It's written in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are there, using quotes from observers. He touches on the corruption that influenced the outcome and anti-Chinese prejudice, as well as the power-mad men, and the heroes of the time. Recommended for anyone with an interest in history or in San Francisco. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this advance copy.
September 3, 2023
My recommendation: I received six free non-fiction books from Netgalley at the same time, including this one. I decided to read the first few pages of each, and then choose the book with the most interesting and promising beginning to complete first. This book won the competition. The rest of the book galloped along at a good pace and was a pleasure to read.
A mansplaining paragraph for the uninitiated: Many of us who read and review a lot of books here at Goodreads are offered free electronic copies to review before publication. The rationale is, if I understand correctly, that people are more likely to consider a book with any recommendation, even if they are lukewarm, before they'll buy a book with no recommendations. I think there are several ways you can acquire books in this fashion, but a service named Netgalley is used very frequently.
Christmas is a time of year when many books are sold, for obvious reasons. With that in mind, August and nearby months are times when the free books come hot and heavy on Netgalley, presumably because it takes a while for even the most dedicated reviewers to read and then write about their advance review copies. That's why I suddenly couldn’t resist downloading an avalanche of the sort of non-fiction books that float my boat, even though I already have piles, both literal and figurative, of books that I haven't read.
In this case, I found myself unable to resist downloading books on the following topics: Irish-Americans, Wild West Outlaws, 19th-century travelers to Siberia, Roman roads, and Franz Fanon. But this is the one that grabbed my attention.
The structure of this book is not revolutionary, but effective. The prologue begins with the final routine moments, early in the morning of Wednesday, April 18, 1906, and then after the earthquake struck at 5:12am, mostly from the point of view of one police officer who was on the street when the earth shook. Chapter One then goes back and reviews the long history of settlement by indigenous inhabitants, Spanish missionaries, and others, before getting to the more recent history, including the market-driven frenzied and slapdash development of San Francisco after the 1848 Gold Rush, rendering the city a tinderbox of inadequate wooden construction. If the plan had been to purposefully set up a town that would burn to the ground, it would have been difficult to improve on San Francisco in 1906.
Here is an anecdote from Chapter One that I enjoyed. Grace Roberts was born in San Francisco in 1852.
More damaging and stupid was the order by Schmitz to dynamite buildings to create a firebreak only if the buildings were already on fire which, as the author remarks several times in the book, had the effect of spreading the fire more effectively and rapidly than doing nothing would have, as tiny flecks of fiery paper and wood floated on the wind, setting fire to the rest of the city. The well-respected and very experienced chief of the San Francisco fire department, who might have been in a position to correct this error, had been mortally injured in the collapse of his home while sleeping. His deputies couldn’t attend meetings of the powerful, even if they had been invited, because they were very quickly too busy jury-rigging the city’s damaged infrastructure in order to attempt to put out actual fires. This error went uncorrected for days, as did the “declaration” of martial law.
Often books chronicling important events in the past are written and published to coincide with important anniversaries, but in this case the book will appear on the year which is the 117th anniversary of the earthquake and fire. I speculate on why it appears now. Probably the subject was interesting to the author, which is reasonable, but also because, in my sight, the biggest bestseller that appeared around the 100th anniversary of the disaster seems inadequate. This book, by comparison, keeps it focus on San Francisco and seems admirably determined to fit in as many actual names and experiences of average San Franciscans as possible, especially if they died in the disaster. This surely took a tremendous amount of work, combing through old books, newspapers, magazines, letters, oral histories, diaries, death certificates, Red Cross registration cards, and so on.
After 1906, Schmitz and Ruef were indicted and disgraced on corruption charges unrelated to the earthquake and fire, but it felt like they got off easily. (Schmitz even ran successfully for a lower-level political office in San Francisco, post-disgrace.) As the author says:
As mentioned previously, I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
A mansplaining paragraph for the uninitiated: Many of us who read and review a lot of books here at Goodreads are offered free electronic copies to review before publication. The rationale is, if I understand correctly, that people are more likely to consider a book with any recommendation, even if they are lukewarm, before they'll buy a book with no recommendations. I think there are several ways you can acquire books in this fashion, but a service named Netgalley is used very frequently.
Christmas is a time of year when many books are sold, for obvious reasons. With that in mind, August and nearby months are times when the free books come hot and heavy on Netgalley, presumably because it takes a while for even the most dedicated reviewers to read and then write about their advance review copies. That's why I suddenly couldn’t resist downloading an avalanche of the sort of non-fiction books that float my boat, even though I already have piles, both literal and figurative, of books that I haven't read.
In this case, I found myself unable to resist downloading books on the following topics: Irish-Americans, Wild West Outlaws, 19th-century travelers to Siberia, Roman roads, and Franz Fanon. But this is the one that grabbed my attention.
The structure of this book is not revolutionary, but effective. The prologue begins with the final routine moments, early in the morning of Wednesday, April 18, 1906, and then after the earthquake struck at 5:12am, mostly from the point of view of one police officer who was on the street when the earth shook. Chapter One then goes back and reviews the long history of settlement by indigenous inhabitants, Spanish missionaries, and others, before getting to the more recent history, including the market-driven frenzied and slapdash development of San Francisco after the 1848 Gold Rush, rendering the city a tinderbox of inadequate wooden construction. If the plan had been to purposefully set up a town that would burn to the ground, it would have been difficult to improve on San Francisco in 1906.
Here is an anecdote from Chapter One that I enjoyed. Grace Roberts was born in San Francisco in 1852.
... Grace traveled with her parents to Washington, D.C., at the age of eight and met President Buchanan at a reception, where he took her hand and remarked, "You are the oldest native Californian I have ever seen."The biggest villain in this book is San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmitz. A handsome well-dressed musician before being recruited by millionaire political boss Abe Ruef to lead the city, Schmitz turned out to be completely unsuited to managing the city. Schmitz illegally declared martial law in and, also illegally, issued shoot to kill orders for looters. The actions by themselves might be considered understandable and pardonable, if not legal, given the chaos and post-earthquake isolation of San Francisco from the rest of the world. Relatively few people died as a result, and order was maintained.
More damaging and stupid was the order by Schmitz to dynamite buildings to create a firebreak only if the buildings were already on fire which, as the author remarks several times in the book, had the effect of spreading the fire more effectively and rapidly than doing nothing would have, as tiny flecks of fiery paper and wood floated on the wind, setting fire to the rest of the city. The well-respected and very experienced chief of the San Francisco fire department, who might have been in a position to correct this error, had been mortally injured in the collapse of his home while sleeping. His deputies couldn’t attend meetings of the powerful, even if they had been invited, because they were very quickly too busy jury-rigging the city’s damaged infrastructure in order to attempt to put out actual fires. This error went uncorrected for days, as did the “declaration” of martial law.
Often books chronicling important events in the past are written and published to coincide with important anniversaries, but in this case the book will appear on the year which is the 117th anniversary of the earthquake and fire. I speculate on why it appears now. Probably the subject was interesting to the author, which is reasonable, but also because, in my sight, the biggest bestseller that appeared around the 100th anniversary of the disaster seems inadequate. This book, by comparison, keeps it focus on San Francisco and seems admirably determined to fit in as many actual names and experiences of average San Franciscans as possible, especially if they died in the disaster. This surely took a tremendous amount of work, combing through old books, newspapers, magazines, letters, oral histories, diaries, death certificates, Red Cross registration cards, and so on.
After 1906, Schmitz and Ruef were indicted and disgraced on corruption charges unrelated to the earthquake and fire, but it felt like they got off easily. (Schmitz even ran successfully for a lower-level political office in San Francisco, post-disgrace.) As the author says:
The folly and greed of men entrusted with the public good had ignited a firestorm more violent than the earthquake and a disaster that outlasted the flames. Their failures had nearly toppled the city's achievements, their crimes went beyond condemnation, and the suffering they caused reached deeper than sorrow.I hope that I'm not giving the impression that the book has a lot of sanctimonious finger-wagging. It doesn't. It says what happened, but it also keeps you turning pages. It's a good book.
As mentioned previously, I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
December 8, 2023
I only knew a teeny bit about this part of history and was really excited to read more about this time and all that happened during it. Much like the book I previously read this year about the Great Chicago Fire [and all the things that people, including what is taught in school, STILL get completely wrong], this definitely lays to rest many things that have been taught that were completely wrong.
Filled with meticulous research and stellar writing, this grabs you from page one and doesn't let go until the very end. I was angry, sad, and at one point, was ugly crying over the loss of life and the things that happened after the earthquake/fire that were both totally preventable and totally incomprehensible. It wasn't enough that so many lost their homes and loved ones to both the earthquake and the fire, but to be treated so badly by the insurance handlers [apparently insurance adjusters have sucked for a very long time], the authorities [and who thought the "shoot to kill" order was a good plan. IDIOTS!!], not to mention all the racists that tried to permanently eliminate the Chinese presence in San Francisco and treated the survivor's abominably [this was a point where ALL the emotions come into play] - well, lets just say that you will feel all the feels as the author navigates you through that post earthquake/fire world.
Also filled with geological information, it was interesting to really learn how earthquakes work and suprisingly, that the earthquake of 1906 was bigger than any other one that that area has experienced since.
If you have ever lived where there are earthquakes, ever learned about this particular earthquake, or are even remotely interested in geological phenomenon, this is the book for you.
Thank you to NetGalley, Matthew J. Davenport, and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Filled with meticulous research and stellar writing, this grabs you from page one and doesn't let go until the very end. I was angry, sad, and at one point, was ugly crying over the loss of life and the things that happened after the earthquake/fire that were both totally preventable and totally incomprehensible. It wasn't enough that so many lost their homes and loved ones to both the earthquake and the fire, but to be treated so badly by the insurance handlers [apparently insurance adjusters have sucked for a very long time], the authorities [and who thought the "shoot to kill" order was a good plan. IDIOTS!!], not to mention all the racists that tried to permanently eliminate the Chinese presence in San Francisco and treated the survivor's abominably [this was a point where ALL the emotions come into play] - well, lets just say that you will feel all the feels as the author navigates you through that post earthquake/fire world.
Also filled with geological information, it was interesting to really learn how earthquakes work and suprisingly, that the earthquake of 1906 was bigger than any other one that that area has experienced since.
If you have ever lived where there are earthquakes, ever learned about this particular earthquake, or are even remotely interested in geological phenomenon, this is the book for you.
Thank you to NetGalley, Matthew J. Davenport, and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 30, 2023
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook San Francisco, catching the city off guard. Shockwaves caused immense destruction, collapsing buildings and igniting fires that turned into a destructive firestorm. In the following days, flames consumed the city and trapped survivors while firefighters battled to save what they could. Drawn from first-hand accounts in diaries and letters, destruction, greed, and survival is revealed.
I’ve always heard about the Great San Francisco Earthquake, knew it was a devastating disaster, but I didn’t know much more about it than that. This book caught my attention as soon as I saw it. As soon as I started reading, it had my attention. What happened during the disaster and how there had been previous fires to warn what was possible, kept me glued to the page.
This was not an easy read, with descriptions of how people died. There were several instances I felt like crying because it was such a tragedy and decisions made were not always the best. (As they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty). It was also not quite as long as I was expecting. There are a lot of references from diaries, news articles, and letters from the event, so the last quarter of the book is made up of those sources.
Overall, I thought it was a sobering yet fascinating read. I would definitely recommend it to readers who are interested in historical events.
I received an early copy through NetGalley, and all opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve always heard about the Great San Francisco Earthquake, knew it was a devastating disaster, but I didn’t know much more about it than that. This book caught my attention as soon as I saw it. As soon as I started reading, it had my attention. What happened during the disaster and how there had been previous fires to warn what was possible, kept me glued to the page.
This was not an easy read, with descriptions of how people died. There were several instances I felt like crying because it was such a tragedy and decisions made were not always the best. (As they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty). It was also not quite as long as I was expecting. There are a lot of references from diaries, news articles, and letters from the event, so the last quarter of the book is made up of those sources.
Overall, I thought it was a sobering yet fascinating read. I would definitely recommend it to readers who are interested in historical events.
I received an early copy through NetGalley, and all opinions expressed are my own.
October 29, 2023
I had read Simon Winchester’s book on the Earthquake and fire of SanFrancisco in 1906 and thought it an incredible telling of what happened……until I read Matthew Davenport’s book The Longest Minute! Mr. Davenport’s telling of the earthquake and fire is an incredibly detailed historically accurate retelling of what occurred by minute and by life! I am in awe of his detailed research. What a horrifying morning in San Francisco in 1906. From lack of water to fight the fires to crumbling wooden buildings, this book details it all, even the children who were able to sleep through the horror of that day! Thousands of lives were taken and destroyed. Thousands of buildings were burned, SanFrancisco once again, as so previous many times, was burnt to the ground, and so many people along with that died. Horrific! Living on the San Andreas fault is not somewhere I would choose to live, but yet, so many remain…will it happen again? This book goes into the same genre as the Titanic, and other shocking things that happen in our world. May this beautiful city stay safe. Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Marten’s Press publishing for the ARC….this is a incredibly accurate story that all history buffs must read!
August 24, 2023
The earthquake left the city with fallen buildings, unusable streets, broken water and gas lines, displaced and devastated families, and fires that encompassed everything.
Before all this there was a history and people and development. And corruption, rapid population growth, slipshod construction and penny-pinching development of basic city services, and greed. This eminently readable and factual book is hallmarked by intense meticulous research and documentation, seismology and geology, fire science as related to the devastating fires, newspaper accounts, true stories of individuals as recorded in their own hand, and personalized understanding of the devastation left behind as well as the monumental task ahead of the people.
Not a dry textbook or doomsday scenario but a very readable presentation.
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Before all this there was a history and people and development. And corruption, rapid population growth, slipshod construction and penny-pinching development of basic city services, and greed. This eminently readable and factual book is hallmarked by intense meticulous research and documentation, seismology and geology, fire science as related to the devastating fires, newspaper accounts, true stories of individuals as recorded in their own hand, and personalized understanding of the devastation left behind as well as the monumental task ahead of the people.
Not a dry textbook or doomsday scenario but a very readable presentation.
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
December 5, 2023
All I can say is "Wow". Unlike the awful Winchester book, Matthew Davenport actually....did research! Only some times did I wonder if there was too much information. The author drew on what seems like an unbelievable amount of primary and secondary sources to walk the reader (or for me, the listener) through every moment of the earthquake through the following days as the city nearly burned to the ground. Stories included a wide range of citizens, from officials to firefighters, immigrants to grocers, soldiers to white collar workers. It's astounding how immense this story was when it's all laid out, and yet there are thousands of untold stories that will never be heard. Really great book for anyone wanting to see the human side of these disasters that, after over a century, have become little more that a marker in history.
January 25, 2024
The city of San Francisco was hit by a powerful earthquake on April 18, 1906. The city had been built somewhat piecemeal over many years, leading to a lack of oversight in building codes and safety. The fire departments of that time were just getting better equipment, but most of the water tanks had to be moved by horses over long distances. Hydrants were not that accessible yet. But, many lessons were learned as the city burned for the next three days, consuming street after street of homes as residents and firefighters tried in vain to fight the flames. What the earthquake didn't knock down, the fire may have burned to the ground. Many lessons were learned in this disaster.
The stories in this book approach the incident from many angles. The author did a lot of research and found the voices of many people to describe the events in their own voices. Accounts of survivors from all parts of the city are used to tell the story in a vivid way. We learn about how some places in the city were built on fill material, as the city grew and the need for more land led to people filling in wetlands and the bay to create "land" on which to build. The fill material didn't hold up to the earthquake, destroying entire sections of the city and killing many people that lived there. Through their accounts, the reader experiences the terror and horror of that day, along with the difficulty of evacuating so many people from the city with so much damage blocking roads and the raging fire preventing access.
We also learn about the decisions that led to the military occupying the streets to keep looters away, which led to misunderstandings and people being shot who were not looting. The water systems were damaged during the earthquake, leading to the water for fighting fires being non-existent at the hydrants because the mains broke and the water leaked out. Yet, there are bright spots too. The Navy commander who brought in boats to fight the fire at the wharves and the ferries that were able to carry people across the bay to safety. The people who stepped up to help each other and took people into their homes.
The aftermath, with some corrupt politicians profiting off the reconstruction, was upsetting. But, it's a part of history that isn't written about in the high school history books most of us read. Nor is the part about how the residents of Chinatown were not allowed out of their neighborhoods due to racist policies. This is a detailed and sweeping account of the disaster from multiple viewpoints, in multiple voices. I learned so much from reading this book. I had a great aunt who lived through the events in the city and our family still has the letter she wrote. It was interesting to see how others fared the same during this disaster. It may be upsetting to read some parts, but I think we can also learn from them. Learn from the negative parts of history that there are things we should never do again. This book is amazing for the scope and details it contains.
The stories in this book approach the incident from many angles. The author did a lot of research and found the voices of many people to describe the events in their own voices. Accounts of survivors from all parts of the city are used to tell the story in a vivid way. We learn about how some places in the city were built on fill material, as the city grew and the need for more land led to people filling in wetlands and the bay to create "land" on which to build. The fill material didn't hold up to the earthquake, destroying entire sections of the city and killing many people that lived there. Through their accounts, the reader experiences the terror and horror of that day, along with the difficulty of evacuating so many people from the city with so much damage blocking roads and the raging fire preventing access.
We also learn about the decisions that led to the military occupying the streets to keep looters away, which led to misunderstandings and people being shot who were not looting. The water systems were damaged during the earthquake, leading to the water for fighting fires being non-existent at the hydrants because the mains broke and the water leaked out. Yet, there are bright spots too. The Navy commander who brought in boats to fight the fire at the wharves and the ferries that were able to carry people across the bay to safety. The people who stepped up to help each other and took people into their homes.
The aftermath, with some corrupt politicians profiting off the reconstruction, was upsetting. But, it's a part of history that isn't written about in the high school history books most of us read. Nor is the part about how the residents of Chinatown were not allowed out of their neighborhoods due to racist policies. This is a detailed and sweeping account of the disaster from multiple viewpoints, in multiple voices. I learned so much from reading this book. I had a great aunt who lived through the events in the city and our family still has the letter she wrote. It was interesting to see how others fared the same during this disaster. It may be upsetting to read some parts, but I think we can also learn from them. Learn from the negative parts of history that there are things we should never do again. This book is amazing for the scope and details it contains.
February 17, 2024
Davenport's well-researched and detailed account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires is intense and puts the reader into the midst of the three-day disaster. He adds the geological background about what caused the quake and warns that a future Big One could be devastating despite technological advances and stricter building codes. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of little known heroes such as Navy lieutenant Frederick Freeman, who saved the waterfront, and Army captain Le Vert Coleman, who realized the mistake being made in dynamiting burning buildings that spread the fires. Davenport's excellent account explores numerous aspects of the disaster, including the rebuilding of the city and lessons learned.
August 27, 2023
This book is a phenomenal historical account of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. It is full of real accounts, stories, history, vivid detail, and a captivating narrative. It is a truly gripping story! While some history books move at a slower pace, this remains a bit thrilling throughout the entire story. It is high stakes, but simultaneously includes a multitude of details. It goes beyond the event to evaluate the culture, norms, and baises of the time which I appreciated. I really enjoyed this book!
March 26, 2024
Many of us have probably never or barely heard of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. While we may never know exactly how many people died, we know the quake had a magnitude of 7.9 and caused massive damage and loss of life—and that was before fire swept through parts of the city for days. The Longest Minute is a remarkable book that makes it feel as if you are almost living through the disaster as it unfolds. Matthew J. Davenport has mined records, personal accounts, and contemporaneous reporting and memoirs to set the stage and take the reader through the events as they unfolded—sometimes minute by minute, or hour by hour.
While earthquakes can’t be prevented, Davenport shows that the scale of destruction was absolutely a man-made disaster. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, San Francisco was a trading hub that quickly expanded its city borders in the late nineteenth century by filling marshland with refuse and paving over it, then building rickety wooden tenements to accommodate its expanding population. The city allowed one company, the Spring Valley Water Company, to control all water lines into the city and provided no oversight. Despite frequent and strenuous warnings from the fire chief about the ongoing inadequacy of the water system, the company ignored the requests for improvements and went unpunished by the city. Building standards were shoddy and even some of the most public buildings, like the massive Hall of Justice, were so poorly built that they failed at almost the first opportunity.
Many of the stories he tells will break your heart or, in some cases, warm it. There are stories of people escaping with time to gather only their most precious items—in some cases, sewing machines or pianos, that they then tried to haul with them into safe open spaces. Some familiar names experienced the disaster or its aftermath—among them, Enrico Caruso, who performed the night before the earthquake and popular writer Jack London, who was sent to report on it. (After being shaken awake in his posh hotel room by the violent quake, Caruso and his valet beat a hasty retreat out of town.) Untold numbers of unlucky (and usually poor) people were crushed into the marshy spaces below the ground in building collapses, never to be found. Other more fortunate people opened their homes, sometimes to dozens of newly unhoused people. Throughout the narrative, Davenport shows the crisis in leadership, with some figures stepping up heroically while others assumed broad responsibilities without proper authorization. Davenport details the incredible work of firefighters, often having to search blocks away for water to put out blazes, and staying awake for many hours to try to save lives. There are also the idiots managing the dynamiting (to create fire breaks), often causing more destruction and setting new fires instead of blocking them, and the military general who decided to order just-enlisted soldiers to “shoot to kill” any looters, despite having no authority to do so.
Throughout, Davenport describes an era where word of a disaster took hours to get to Washington, D.C., which had no formal response system in place. Aid poured in as best as it could, but the reality was that access to food, water, power, and shelter was desperately limited and put many people into situations of extreme hardship. Afterward, some insurance companies refused to pay out based on earthquake exemption clauses, but eventually about 90% of the damage caused by the earthquake and fire was covered, leading to the city’s rebirth. One especially clever city resident, second-generation Italian immigrant Amadeo Giannini, saved his Bank of Italy by moving all its cash, gold, and silver out of his vulnerable building ahead of the fire. After his building was destryed, he opened up a new temporary location and restarted his business. Eventually his bank became Bank of America.
The Chinese community was especially hard hit by the fire, and some organizations tried to use the occasion to expel the Chinese from the city. The citizens organized and fought back and eventually were able to rebuild Chinatown exactly where it had always been (and remains today).
I cannot imagine a more comprehensive or absorbing telling of this important piece of history. It’s hard not to see many parallels with the way we continue to live in this country, often ignoring warnings; allowing easy profits to outweigh protections for people and resources; and requiring extraordinary skill, luck, and determination to get through crises. The same prejudices against different racial and class groups that caused more harm to the poor and vulnerable persist today, despite some improvements in standards and regulatory oversight. This book can be read as a lesson for our time as well as a thoroughly documented history of our past.
While earthquakes can’t be prevented, Davenport shows that the scale of destruction was absolutely a man-made disaster. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, San Francisco was a trading hub that quickly expanded its city borders in the late nineteenth century by filling marshland with refuse and paving over it, then building rickety wooden tenements to accommodate its expanding population. The city allowed one company, the Spring Valley Water Company, to control all water lines into the city and provided no oversight. Despite frequent and strenuous warnings from the fire chief about the ongoing inadequacy of the water system, the company ignored the requests for improvements and went unpunished by the city. Building standards were shoddy and even some of the most public buildings, like the massive Hall of Justice, were so poorly built that they failed at almost the first opportunity.
Many of the stories he tells will break your heart or, in some cases, warm it. There are stories of people escaping with time to gather only their most precious items—in some cases, sewing machines or pianos, that they then tried to haul with them into safe open spaces. Some familiar names experienced the disaster or its aftermath—among them, Enrico Caruso, who performed the night before the earthquake and popular writer Jack London, who was sent to report on it. (After being shaken awake in his posh hotel room by the violent quake, Caruso and his valet beat a hasty retreat out of town.) Untold numbers of unlucky (and usually poor) people were crushed into the marshy spaces below the ground in building collapses, never to be found. Other more fortunate people opened their homes, sometimes to dozens of newly unhoused people. Throughout the narrative, Davenport shows the crisis in leadership, with some figures stepping up heroically while others assumed broad responsibilities without proper authorization. Davenport details the incredible work of firefighters, often having to search blocks away for water to put out blazes, and staying awake for many hours to try to save lives. There are also the idiots managing the dynamiting (to create fire breaks), often causing more destruction and setting new fires instead of blocking them, and the military general who decided to order just-enlisted soldiers to “shoot to kill” any looters, despite having no authority to do so.
Throughout, Davenport describes an era where word of a disaster took hours to get to Washington, D.C., which had no formal response system in place. Aid poured in as best as it could, but the reality was that access to food, water, power, and shelter was desperately limited and put many people into situations of extreme hardship. Afterward, some insurance companies refused to pay out based on earthquake exemption clauses, but eventually about 90% of the damage caused by the earthquake and fire was covered, leading to the city’s rebirth. One especially clever city resident, second-generation Italian immigrant Amadeo Giannini, saved his Bank of Italy by moving all its cash, gold, and silver out of his vulnerable building ahead of the fire. After his building was destryed, he opened up a new temporary location and restarted his business. Eventually his bank became Bank of America.
The Chinese community was especially hard hit by the fire, and some organizations tried to use the occasion to expel the Chinese from the city. The citizens organized and fought back and eventually were able to rebuild Chinatown exactly where it had always been (and remains today).
I cannot imagine a more comprehensive or absorbing telling of this important piece of history. It’s hard not to see many parallels with the way we continue to live in this country, often ignoring warnings; allowing easy profits to outweigh protections for people and resources; and requiring extraordinary skill, luck, and determination to get through crises. The same prejudices against different racial and class groups that caused more harm to the poor and vulnerable persist today, despite some improvements in standards and regulatory oversight. This book can be read as a lesson for our time as well as a thoroughly documented history of our past.
April 16, 2024
The The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 is excellent for those fascinated by San Francisco's history. This book mostly focuses on the details of the three days of earthquakes and subsequent fires. At times, the descriptions get a little tedious as we are taken to each neighborhood with the encroaching fire, the repeated frustration with the lack of water in the hydrants, the incompetent dynamiting of burning buildings to spread the fire further, and the refugees leaving as blocks are incinerated near them. The most interesting stories were the human stories like the general who marches his troops into harm's way to save the city, the naval officer who saves much of the wharf, and best of all, the corrupt mayor and his handler, Eugene Schmitz and Abe Ruef, who make stupid decisions. Unfortunately, the really interesting part of Schmitz and Ruef's story is their trial after the earthquake, which is reduced to a few pages. I could see a Netflix limited series about these two corrupt politicians (though I think the series "Warriors" has a couple of characters based on these guys). Overall, the book details an important time in the city and is well worth the read if SF history is your cup of tea.
December 15, 2023
I love San Francisco. I lived there for 25 years and while living there I sought out anything I could regarding San Francisco’s vibrant history and how the city was established as a result of the California gold rush.
I opted to listen to this 17 hour and 20 min book because there is no way I could’ve read a book of this size and stayed interested but the audio was so good, read by Traber Burns.
The spirit of entrepreneurship, which is at the core of San Francisco now, can be traced back to all the people that rushed in to partake, in the riches of the Gold Rush. This didn’t just include those that came to looo for gold; the 49ers, but those that came in and were industrious enough to survive by creating industry that supported the flood of people. Women, Chinese immigrants who set up the first laundry establishments and restaurants, the Irish and theItalian.
The city grew overnight and there were no building codes though it was known back then that the city was sitting on a major fault line. There was corruption and the water coming into the city was privatized and this meant that during the three day inferno that ensued after the 1906 earthquake, the fire hydrants ran dry, which is why most of the city burned.
The research that went into this book must’ve taken years and if you love all things asan Franciscan, read this book or rather listen to it.
I opted to listen to this 17 hour and 20 min book because there is no way I could’ve read a book of this size and stayed interested but the audio was so good, read by Traber Burns.
The spirit of entrepreneurship, which is at the core of San Francisco now, can be traced back to all the people that rushed in to partake, in the riches of the Gold Rush. This didn’t just include those that came to looo for gold; the 49ers, but those that came in and were industrious enough to survive by creating industry that supported the flood of people. Women, Chinese immigrants who set up the first laundry establishments and restaurants, the Irish and theItalian.
The city grew overnight and there were no building codes though it was known back then that the city was sitting on a major fault line. There was corruption and the water coming into the city was privatized and this meant that during the three day inferno that ensued after the 1906 earthquake, the fire hydrants ran dry, which is why most of the city burned.
The research that went into this book must’ve taken years and if you love all things asan Franciscan, read this book or rather listen to it.
October 16, 2023
The Longest Minute by Matthew J. Davenport is a thoughtfully-written account of the horrors of the San Francisco earthquake which shook for about a minute but left lasting horrible repercussions for thousands and thousands of people. Many died and half the city was displaced. It is impossible to imagine the raw terror people felt as fire after fire spread after desperate attempts to contain them failed. However, the author writes with such clarity I could practically taste, smell, touch, hear and see the frightful chaos. The sheer power of earthquakes and their ability to destroy so much in mere seconds is chilling.
If you are keen to learn more about this catastrophe, this book is for you. Just know it is painstakingly detailed which is wonderful to history fans like myself but could be long for some with just a passing interest. Much of the writing is focused on before, during and after the ignited fires (including wood stoves) which destroyed over 80% of the city.
My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this outstanding book. I've read about this before but learned so much more here. Well worth reading.
If you are keen to learn more about this catastrophe, this book is for you. Just know it is painstakingly detailed which is wonderful to history fans like myself but could be long for some with just a passing interest. Much of the writing is focused on before, during and after the ignited fires (including wood stoves) which destroyed over 80% of the city.
My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this outstanding book. I've read about this before but learned so much more here. Well worth reading.
January 26, 2024
Not sure if this is the most boring book that I have read; if not, it is very close. Based on the title, I would expect something about an "earthquake" especially given the words in the title. But it looks like most of the book is about the fire that occurred after the earthquake. Can't really say for sure because I started getting to the point that I would put the book down and fall asleep, I started skipping around, going past paragraphs and many pages and did not seem to miss much. If there was much continuity, I was not noticing that.
The writing was a bit strange. Case in point: "Coppersmiths and grocers and druggists and barbers and bartenders and carpenters and blacksmiths rushed from their homes and flats and boardinghouse rooms by foot and horse-drawn buggies to their own livelihood's small corner of the city, a single-story wood frame saddlery shop or a third-floor bookkeeping office or a five-story brick warehouse." Wow, did the author accept a dare from somebody to use the word "and" at least 15,000 times? Is there a tax on the use of a comma?
The source material for this book might have been kind of dry and maybe the author needed to spice things up. Or maybe the author is hoping for a movie based on this. But, this tortured writing was hard to read. I just simply did not need this excruciating level of detail on the profession of a fire victim or how the corners of some obscure tax document was singed by the flames.
This book could not hold my interest and I lost the desire to turn another page after getting only about one-third of the way through it.
The writing was a bit strange. Case in point: "Coppersmiths and grocers and druggists and barbers and bartenders and carpenters and blacksmiths rushed from their homes and flats and boardinghouse rooms by foot and horse-drawn buggies to their own livelihood's small corner of the city, a single-story wood frame saddlery shop or a third-floor bookkeeping office or a five-story brick warehouse." Wow, did the author accept a dare from somebody to use the word "and" at least 15,000 times? Is there a tax on the use of a comma?
The source material for this book might have been kind of dry and maybe the author needed to spice things up. Or maybe the author is hoping for a movie based on this. But, this tortured writing was hard to read. I just simply did not need this excruciating level of detail on the profession of a fire victim or how the corners of some obscure tax document was singed by the flames.
This book could not hold my interest and I lost the desire to turn another page after getting only about one-third of the way through it.
June 3, 2024
Two things I'm obsessed with: California, and earthquakes. So do you think I liked this book? Why, yes! The book starts with many eyewitness accounts of the 48 seconds the quake actually lasted. It then moves in what feels like real time through the next few days -- the fires, the lack of water, the chaos, the confusion over whether the city was under martial law or not (it was not), the tragic deaths in the days following the earthquakes. This was a factual account of what happened during the quake, but it wasn't just boring history. The author went to great effort to list as many names of the dead as possible, even people no one knew anything about, people who were nothing but a name and maybe an occupation, like "George Smith, laborer," with no other details.
One of my biggest fears in life is that, because I chose to move away from California and it doesn't look like I'm going back, I will miss The Big One. Everyone in California thinks about The Big One. Yes, it would be terrible, but I am so obsessed with natural disasters of all kinds that I truly believe that even if I suffered an agonizing death in The Big One that we all know is coming some day, my main feeling would be relief that I didn't miss it.
Off to (re)watch San Andreas!
One of my biggest fears in life is that, because I chose to move away from California and it doesn't look like I'm going back, I will miss The Big One. Everyone in California thinks about The Big One. Yes, it would be terrible, but I am so obsessed with natural disasters of all kinds that I truly believe that even if I suffered an agonizing death in The Big One that we all know is coming some day, my main feeling would be relief that I didn't miss it.
Off to (re)watch San Andreas!
October 17, 2023
The 1906 San Fransisco earthquake has been written of many times. I've read several books on the subject but the synopsis of THE LONGEST MINUTE piqued my curiousity enough to start reading it. The story and the excellent writing kept me reading through to the end. Matthew J Davenport obviously did extensive research and spent time working the story in such a way that even though you have read of this event before.....this was a unique read. The story unwinds in such a manner that you can feel, hear and see the destruction as it's recorded for history. The scars were many, in 1906, the technology was many sets of hands working together. There was no technology so the stories are up close and personal. It's definitely worth your readig time to learn more of the history of this sugnificant event.
January 3, 2024
Matthew Davenport is an excellent writer and his latest book ‘The Longest Minute’ about the 1906 earthquake disaster and subsequent fire is not only compelling but highly readable. As I read the book, it was the individuals and the incredible detail that almost made me feel as if I was in SF during the fire and could smell the smoke. It was a disaster on many levels and the research that the author has done does justice to the many individuals that suffered through the three day fire and the aftermath. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to know more about the SF earthquake and fire but also desires to know more about the chaos and confusion in a disaster the magnitude of the SF earthquake and fire.
December 28, 2023
4.5 An interesting and serious look at the earthquake and fire that destroyed such a huge swath of San Francisco in 1906. Not quite a minute by minute account but it is very detailed without sacrificing how it impacted individual lives. It seems so strange to discover that it was the fire that ended up being the biggest part of the disaster, aided by inept city policies and graft on building safety and construction. No FEMA or anything like that at the time, and a lot of hasty and inexperienced decisions had a big impact on the situation. Have to admit, that after finishing the book, I have started looking online at Portland and Multnomah County’s emergency preparedness!
December 31, 2023
I learned a lot about the Great San Francisco Earthquake and fire from this book! I thought I had read other books that cover the topic pretty well, but Davenport's extremely well researched and well written book tops the others by a large margin.
Some major positives: clear structure, lots of historical detail, easy to follow, easy to understand, and engaging.
If you have ever wondered about the historical event this work centers around, then don't miss this book!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the DARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.
Some major positives: clear structure, lots of historical detail, easy to follow, easy to understand, and engaging.
If you have ever wondered about the historical event this work centers around, then don't miss this book!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the DARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.
March 6, 2024
Very interesting and enlightening. I learned so much and found myself saying, many times over, "Oh, I never even thought about *that*!"
Very thoroughly researched, and organized very well.
It was simply very long. For its 339 pages, it took me two or three times as long to read as other books of similar length. Probably due to not a lot of (or none at all) dialogue, and very detailed account. This is not a fault, just an observation.
I loved this book and will never forget it. Worth the 4+ months it took to get through it.
Very thoroughly researched, and organized very well.
It was simply very long. For its 339 pages, it took me two or three times as long to read as other books of similar length. Probably due to not a lot of (or none at all) dialogue, and very detailed account. This is not a fault, just an observation.
I loved this book and will never forget it. Worth the 4+ months it took to get through it.
August 18, 2024
I've been low key obsessed with the 1906 Earthquake for as long as I can remember. I don't know, I guess major, unexpected, real life opportunities for valor and horror and big moments and tiny ones just gets me.
I really enjoyed this book, the way it was laid out, the characters that were featured, all helped to tie the story together very cohesively. A lot to cover! It's also interesting to see not only how we remember things that have happened just outside of our own culture timeline, but how we commemorate them too.
I really enjoyed this book, the way it was laid out, the characters that were featured, all helped to tie the story together very cohesively. A lot to cover! It's also interesting to see not only how we remember things that have happened just outside of our own culture timeline, but how we commemorate them too.
September 30, 2023
A well-done novel on the Great San Fransisco earthquake of 1906. the horrors and hardships overcome were inspirational. It was sad to learn that some of the issues could have been avoided except for the greed and corruption that took place in the office of the mayor. Overall a tremendous book.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
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March 26, 2024The vivid descriptions found in THE LONGEST MINUTE by Matthew J. Davenport will have #readers feel terror, denial, and despair. This is a #mustread if you'd like to become familiar with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
Read the full review on BookTrib.com
Read the full review on BookTrib.com
July 24, 2024
Thoroughly researched and detail oriented. This is written more in a reference or documentary style. While I did not fact check, the 1906 Earthquake has always been a personal interest and nothing seemed untoward.
I prefer more of a story and less textbook style history book when reading casually.
This is a GoodReads Giveaway physical book win that I enjoyed and will now donate it.
I prefer more of a story and less textbook style history book when reading casually.
This is a GoodReads Giveaway physical book win that I enjoyed and will now donate it.
March 10, 2024
Meticulously researched, this history of the 1906 SF earthquake is a page turner for sure. Details abound explaining what was happening all over the City & also exposing why.
Particularly engaging for anyone living, or having ever lived, in the Bay Area. We know all these places now & reading what happened creates a sense of how we arrived at what we have today.
When I first arrived in SF my apartment was a couple blocks from a critical fire hydrant that stopped the fire. I kept wondering if it would get a proper mention. My patience & curiosity paid off!
Particularly engaging for anyone living, or having ever lived, in the Bay Area. We know all these places now & reading what happened creates a sense of how we arrived at what we have today.
When I first arrived in SF my apartment was a couple blocks from a critical fire hydrant that stopped the fire. I kept wondering if it would get a proper mention. My patience & curiosity paid off!
November 22, 2023
The Longest Minute is an intimate, well-reported telling of the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. Davenport dove deep into retelling what happened on that day more than a century ago and it is a gripping read. The deep dive pays off and you are connected to the victims, the firefighters and all those involved. Terrific story telling.
July 2, 2024
3.7 stars. A little too detailed. Tried to focus on too many individuals
November 27, 2023
The best book I've read about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
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