Disaster by the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 - Hardcover

It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. A colorful city--eighth largest in the country--was reduced to rubble and consumed by flames. And thousands of its residents died.

"Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone!"
Those were the disbelieving words of Jack London, as he surveyed, on April 19, 1906, the devastation of the city by the Golden Gate.
The day before, at 5:13 A.M., a powerful earthquake, estimated to be the equivalent of 8.3 on today's Richter scale, had rocked San Francisco for forty-seven seconds, with several aftershocks following in the course of the next half hour. As the city's inhabitants scrambled fearfully from their beds, they discovered that the colorful and lively town with which they were familiar was indeed gone, replaced by an unrecognizable cityscape. Hundreds of buildings had been leveled, thousands more were on the verge of collapse, and here and there fires were already in progress, fires which would eventually grow to rage throughout the ruined town for the next three days.
Written by a veteran journalist and author, and illustrated with many recently rediscovered photographs, Disaster by the Bay tells the incredible story of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.