MATTHEW DAVENPORT: THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE OF 1906
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. For the next three days, fires ignited and nearly destroyed what was then the largest city in the American West.
Join us in-person as Matthew Davenport describes the massive devastation and combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.
MLF ORGANIZER
George Hammond
NOTES
A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.
This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.
Photo courtesy by Rob Taylor Photography.
Speakers
Matthew Davenport
Author, The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
In Conversation with Julia Flynn Siler
Author; Journalist; California Book Award Juror; Twitter @jsilerauthor
