I’ve read a number of books about the 1906 SF earthquake, so I was interested in what possible new information “The Longest Minute” by Matthew Davenport would contain. Mr. Davenport mentions in the beginning of the book that he gained access to numerous letters, reports, and accounts of the earthquake many of which had never been presented in book form. He’s right - while I’ve read accounts of the earthquake from primary sources, this book included a lot more detail. Mr. Davenport has numerous footnotes and sources - in fact nearly 40% of the book is devoted to said sources. The research that went into this book is plentiful. Interestingly, the text isn’t as dry as I expected - especially with so many sources. If you are one who is interested in knowing more about the 1906 “Big One,” or you’ve experienced an earthquake yourself, or you like history - this may be a book to pick up. It’s not a light fluffy read, but it’s jam packed with factual information.

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.)
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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 Drawing on the letters and diaries and unpublished memoirs of survivors and previously unearthed archival records, Matthew Davenport combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the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.

When an earthquake occurs when many people are asleep, it may be better for them as they may not even wake up before they are crushed to death. I know, macabre, but would you want to wait for that to happen to you? The fires that followed were just as bad: I cannot imagine waiting to be burned to death but in those days, things moved slower and there were not as many support services as there are now when you call 911.

There is a lot of research in this book, but it was right up my alley: I love reading history and how it affected people who lived (or didn’t) live through it. Highly recommended for individual readers and book clubs. #shortbutsweetreviews