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Curse of the Narrows, 2005, by Laura M. MacDonald, hardcover with dust jacket, published by Walker & Company, 356 pages.
From the dust jacket -----
BEFORE HIROSHIMA, THERE WAS HALIFAX.
In 1917, the busy Canadian port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was crowded with supply ships servicing war-torn Europe. On the morning of December 6, a Belgian relief vessel called the Imo collided with the Mont Blanc, a munitions ship packed with high explosives, in the hard-to-navigate Narrows of the harbor. Minutes later, the Mont Blanc grounded, ablaze, on the Halifax waterfront. The catastrophic explosion that followed - so powerful that it was later studied by J. Robert Oppenheimer to predict the effects of the atomic bomb - set off a chain reaction of events that would devastate the city and shock the world.
The blast vaporized the 3,121-ton hull of the Mont Blanc. A cloud shot up more than two thousand feet and showered the city with a slick black residue. Within moments, a tsunami, triggered by the explosion, swept along the waterfront, washing victims out to sea and casting ships onto the shore. When a single telegram reached Boston saying Halifax was devastated, the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee was called to action. By nightfall hundreds of volunteers were on a train bound for Halifax, not knowing what lay ahead. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, a massive blizzard was building along the Eastern Seaboard. Snow began to fall that evening, leaving Halifax buried and broken, isolated from the rest of the world.
Set against the vivid backdrop of World War I, Curse of the Narrows chronicles one of the most dramatic events in North American history and heralds the arrival of a brilliant young narrative historian. It is filled with unforgettable human stories: Charles Duggan, who was thrown to the seabed, stripped of his clothes, and left stranded on the opposite shore by the tsunami; Duggan's nine-year-old niece, Helena, who pulled her mother and siblings out of the rubble and led them to safety; Dr. George Cox, an eye surgeon who operated for more than three straight days; pioneering surgeon W. E. Ladd, whose experiences treating children in Halifax would lead to the first pediatric surgery ward in North America; the Boston relief train that plowed its way through the snowdrifts to bring desperately needed supplies, doctors, and relief workers; and the Boston Christmas Tree, to this day given by the citizens of Halifax in remembrance of its sister city's heroic efforts.
Utilizing primary sources, including the files of the explosion's official historian plus medical and social work files - many of which have not been read since 1918 - Laura M. MacDonald has written the definitive narrative history of this early-twentieth-century tragedy and the untold story of America's first emergency response unit.
The contents include -----
A Short History of Halifax
1. Wednesday
2. December 6, 1917: Winter Morning
3. Black Smoke, White Smoke
4. A Word on Explosions
5. Minutes Later
6. Far from the Harbor
7. Scramble at City Hall
8. The First Responders
9. Duggan Walks Home
10. Nightfall
11. Friday Night and Folly Mountain
12. Saturday: Reorganizing the Relief
13. Duggans Reunited, If Briefly
14. The End of Emergency Relief
15. Cap Ratshesky Says Good-bye
16. Playing Solomon
17. Proper Burials, Private Services
18. Monday, December 17, 1917
19. Rules of the Road versus the Law of the Land
20. The Tree at Boston Common
Epilogue
Appendix A: Accident or Sabotage?
Appendix B: Preparing/or the Future
Appendix C: Francis Mackey Interview
Appendix D: By the Numbers
Appendix E: Wreck Commission Participants and Witnesses; Featured People; and Ships
This book is in a very good condition with some edge wear to the cover, and with no writing or other marks in the book. The dust jacket is rough along the upper and lower edges, particular along the upper edge in the region of the spine, where there is also a small missing piece.
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